Yeasir Md Fahad, JnU Correspondent: Following a poor showing in the Jagannath University Central Students’ Union (JnUCSU) polls, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Jagannath University (JnU) unit is grappling with internal finger-pointing. The main reason for the collapse of the Chhatra Dal is seen as the organization's structural weakness or group politics and ineffective policy.
According to the concerned persons of the unit, long-term organizational inactivity and groupings weakened the direct contact and trust with the general students. The Chhatra Dal failed to take visible initiatives focusing on the crisis of connection and trust with the general students, campus-based problems, security and student welfare. As a result, credibility was not built among the general students.
Seeking anonymity, a convening member of the Chhatra Dal unit, said, "Group politics became a negative factor in the JnUCSU election. The leader who managed post for his follower, only worked with them. That destroyed the party unity of the panel."
The ambiguity and bargaining over the selection of candidates for the posts of VP and GS before the elections created dissatisfaction within the organization and weakened the unified campaign. Conflicts and divisions within the unit disrupted the organization's decision-making and field-level coordination, which damaged the electoral capacity. Moreover, the lack of qualifications and skills and the failure to select acceptable candidates were obvious.
Pranta Das Gupta, a student of the Finance department, said, "Zafrin is a student of the Music department, but she was a candidate for the Education and Research Secretary post from the Chhatra Dal-supported panel. Why should I vote for her? She has neither any research nor published articles. Ebrahim Khalil from Shibir is more qualified than her. At least he has published articles."
Due to the lack of candidate recognition and the dominance of senior-centric leadership structure by seniors, juniors were not able to develop recognition and campus connections, whereas Shibir comparatively brought juniors to the fore.
Chhatra Dal's controversial behaviors like - controversial activities, comments on hijab, snatching of microphones had a negative impact on the vote as they failed to reflect students' concern over security and decent behavior and demanding a safe campus.
The failure to get the expected votes in the departments considered as the base of the party candidates, has raised questions within the organization about the candidate selection and organizational strategy. Chhatra Dal's GS candidate Khadijatul Kubra and the convener of the unit Chhatra Dal Mehedi Hasan Hemal both are the students of the Political Science department. But, their VP and AGS candidates faced a setback in that department. Similarly, Chhatra Dal's AGS candidate BM Atiqur Rahman Tanzil could not win in his own department of Islamic Studies. Chhatra Dal's top candidates' failure in their own and base departments reveals the weakness of grassroots support and personal acceptance.
However, The candidates of the university unit Chhatra Shibir won an absolute victory in the JnUCSU elections where out of the total 21 posts they secured victory in 16 posts including VP, GS, AGS. On the other hand, the candidates of the Chhatra Dal-supported panel won 4 posts including three secretarial posts and one executive member post.
