BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has said that bringing student representatives into government responsibilities does not seem like the right decision to him.
“It seems to me that it was not the right decision for student representatives to take part in the government. Had they stayed out, they could have remained a strong pressure group,” he said.
He said, “In democratic practice, no one in the world can be part of both the ruling party and the opposition at the same time. The day the student leaders joined the government, I realized they will no longer be able to contribute meaningfully to state-building.”
He made these remarks on Saturday while speaking at the third session of the "Youth's Vision for the State" dialogue held at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in Kakrail, Dhaka.
Salahuddin Ahmed further said, “It won’t be enough for me to call on them to step away from the government – they themselves need to feel that urgency.”
Indirectly referring to Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, he added, “I saw in the newspaper that one of your leaders said, ‘Who will be the ruling party, and who the opposition — that’s up to us.’ So have you decided that yourselves, or will the people decide? If you're so confident, why don’t you contest in elections? Why are you trying to hinder the polls using various excuses?”
Salahuddin added, “You took to the streets while we were still in discussions. If movements and dialogue happen simultaneously, that’s a contradiction. We're already discussing the legal basis of the July Charter. We want solutions through discussions.”
Calling for unity and avoiding the creation of new crises, he said, “Different parties may have different demands, but forcing those on the nation is not acceptable Let’s avoid forcing each other. The change we seek will not happen overnight. Let us not create new crises – let us maintain unity.”
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