BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Wednesday congratulated the winners of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) elections.
“I would like to personally congratulate those who have won in the Ducsu elections, as this is the norm of democracy. Since the elections were held after many years, there were some flaws,” he said while addressing the 47th founding anniversary of Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.
Referring to media reports, Salahuddin said it has been reported that a Shibir-backed panel has won the Ducsu polls. “I want to tell my journalist friends that, to my knowledge, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir did not take part in this Ducsu election and no panel contested under its name or banner. Then why is it being reported this way in newspapers and other media? That is the question.”
The BNP leader said their student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal contested the Ducsu election under its own name and banner.
He said other parties, including Islami Andolon Bangladesh, also took part under their names, while some groups contested as Independent Student Unity, Integrated Student Union, Students Against Discrimination Union, Unbeaten ’71, and Undaunted ’24.
He said those who chose not to contest under their own names must have had their own motives. “The panel that has won is ‘Oikyoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’. I would once again like to personally congratulate those who were victorious under that banner.”
For the first time in the history of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) elections, the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed ‘Oikyoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’ (United Students’ Alliance) won, securing 23 out of 28 posts.
Panels of Chhatra Dal and Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad did not win a single post. Shibir-backed candidate Shadik Kayem was elected VP with 14,042 votes, while his nearest rival, Chhatra Dal’s Abidul Islam Khan, polled 5,708 votes.
Salahuddin said the biggest movement since the 2024 mass uprising has been the struggle to change Bangladesh’s political culture in its new journey.
He stressed that this struggle must continue so that a new political culture can be established.
“What is that culture? A democratic culture, a culture of tolerance, a culture of empathy. Through tolerance and empathy, we will engage in political competition and practise politics,” he said.
He warned that if the nation does not want the return of fascism, the rise of individual or party-based authoritarianism, parliamentary autocracy, or a one-party state, then political parties must uphold, practise, and nurture a new democratic culture.
“It is only through practising democratic political culture that we can remove the fascist, undemocratic, and corrupt political bad culture of the past. Through good practices, we can overcome destructive politics — and that is the political path we must follow,” Salahuddin said.
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He said while there will always be competition and rivalry in politics, it must end with mutual respect. “At the end of the day, through democratic processes, we will congratulate one another — that should be our guiding principle.”
Salahuddin also said student union elections like Ducsu and others have always influenced national politics.
Recalling his own student days in the late 1970s and 1980s, the BNP leader said he had seen many leaders rise through these platforms, some reaching Parliament while others faded away.
He said Bangladesh’s major political and social changes had come through student politics, and universities must remain centres of political practice as national leadership grows from there.
“Those who are against student politics or call for its abolition — I stand against them. Because the practice of politics is part of education; the university is its classroom. From there, leadership for national politics emerges through continuous development,” the BNP leader said.
Salahuddin said political learning should begin with student politics, but not the kind of politics seen during fascist regimes.
He called for a politics based on accountability, good governance, equality, morality and human dignity, urging all to struggle for such a political culture and state system.
The BNP leader also advised Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal to strengthen their organisational capacity and activities at the grassroots ahead of the national election.