Thousands of students are protesting against the quota system in Bangladesh. School-college students also took to the streets along with university students. A significant portion of the quota system has been reserved to give government jobs to the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters. At the time of writing these protests are ongoing and show no sign of abating. The protests continued despite  deployment of law enforcement agencies and intimidation by the ruling party activists.

In an address to the nation yesterday (July 17), Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked to wait until the court's verdict. She announced a judicial inquiry into the terrorist attack and casualties on protesting students. She said, I declare unequivocally that those who have committed murder, robbery and terrorist activities, whoever they are, will be punished accordingly. A judicial inquiry will be conducted. However, her speech could not suppress the movement.
Meanwhile, the government wants to discuss with the student leaders for quota reform. Law Minister Anisul Haque confirmed the matter to the media. The Law Minister said today (July 18), "Whenever the students agree to sit in the discussion, this discussion will take place."

In response, Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement, said in a status on the social networking site Facebook, “There is no dialogue by treading blood.”

Sarzis Alam, another one of the coordinators of the movement, also raised questions on a separate status and said, "On one side there are bullets and bodies, on the other side there is dialogue! How can there be dialogue over my brother's blood?”

Leaders and ministers of the ruling Awami League, the party that led Bangladesh's independence war, have accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat- e- Islami (JI) for misleading the students. However, the BNP's student body 'Chhatra Dal' has announced that it was and will remain standing by the students. Also, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student organization of JI accused of war crimes, held a protest march on behalf of the demonstrating students.
On the other hand, the protesting students claim that the anti-discrimination student movement is not an anti-government political platform. Special care is being taken to keep this movement above political debate.
This student movement, formed on the one-point demand of quota reform, has spread across the country. The students of various universities and colleges of the country are participating in this movement regardless of party affiliation and they have announced that their movement will continue until their demands are met.
The protesting students say that the quota system is discriminatory. Through this, government jobs are given to people who are biased towards the ruling party. Instead they are demanding merit based recruitment system.

It has been said in this one-point - "The quota system should be reformed by passing a law in the Parliament by abolishing unreasonable and discriminatory quotas in all grades of government jobs and bringing the quotas for the backward groups and those with special needs to the minimum level on the basis of fairness."
However, political analysts believe that this protest is deeper than the quota issue.

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has commented that instead of students, BNP-Jamaat has entered the field with their old arson in the name of anti-quota movement.

Chhatra Dal general secretary Nashir Uddin Nashir said in the press conference, "Chhatra Dal has supported this movement of ordinary students from the beginning, it will continue to support this movement. Ordinary students will be successful in this movement.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir is holding protest marches and rallies to protest the attack of Chhatra League on the students who are demonstrating for quota reform across the country. In the gathering, the secretary of the organization's central office, Nurul Islam, said that the discriminatory quota system has pushed the Chhatra League to thwart the logical movement of students to demand reform. Chhatra League made innocent students bloody.
A section of political analysts claim that it is a movement of ordinary students. A large part of the country has support for this movement. If a third party wants to take advantage of this movement or party tag is applied, then the movement may be disrupted.
It is to be noted that Students of Dhaka University called for the first movement under the banner of 'Anti-discrimination student society' from 1st July. In solidarity with them, the students of each university started a movement for quota reform in their respective campuses. Later, students of higher secondary level and madrasah also joined the movement gradually.
 

BOB Post