Violent student protests reveal deeper, underlying issues in Bangladesh

Tariq Hasan, a recent sociology graduate from a government college in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, remained largely apolitical throughout his university years.

He navigated Dhaka’s daunting traffic to reach his classes and kept a low profile, focusing intently on his studies, even as many of his classmates became involved in active politics—a common scenario in Bangladesh’s government colleges.

Everything, however, changed last week.

Violent clashes erupted between protesting students demanding the rollback of government job quotas and security personnel and activists from the ruling party's student and youth wings.

Initially, Hasan considered shielding himself from the flood of social media images and videos depicting students being brutally assaulted and fired upon.

Eventually, he summoned the courage to join the protesting students, convinced their cause was just and legitimate.

During a few intense hours of violence in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area, he witnessed fellow protesters and bystanders being shot at by police. Hasan returned home safe, though not unscathed, with his shoulder severely bruised by flying brick fragments.

"It was profoundly unjust. We were protesting with banners and sticks while they responded with bullets and tear gas," Hasan tells TRT World.

"I have never witnessed such violence.”

In a nation accustomed to periods of significant political violence, the crackdown on students and common people by the government has been described by analysts as “unprecedented” in Bangladesh in recent decades.

Hospital sources indicate that the reported death toll of at least 170 is likely an underestimate. Local newspapers and protest leaders suggest the actual number could be much higher, while hundreds of others remain in detention in Dhaka alone, fueling widespread concern and unrest.

Tension still runs high in the South Asian nation despite a Supreme Court ruling on Sunday that partially accommodated the students’ demands, allowing 93 percent of government jobs to be awarded based on merit.

The government hopes this will appease the protesters, but the discontent runs deeper.

“I graduated seven months ago and still haven’t found a job opportunity. This wasn’t just about quota reform; it was an outcry from ordinary people like us who are struggling to survive,” Hasan adds.

Unemployment and government jobs

Bangladesh’s economy, once hailed as a South Asian “miracle”, had started to slow down, mainly due to its over-reliance on garment exports and the global disruptions caused by the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict.

These factors led to a significant increase in the prices of essential commodities like energy and food and a sharp decline in foreign reserves.

Amidst this climate of economic uncertainty, government employment remained a highly sought-after and stable avenue for career advancement.

At any given time, university libraries are bustling with young graduates preparing intensively for civil service exams, competing fiercely for limited government positions.

In the most recent recruitment test, approximately 346,000 candidates vied for just 3,300 jobs, as reported by local media.

There was already a growing sentiment among young people that access to these positions was unfairly biased, with allegations of leaked entrance exam papers.

However, what galvanised them into action was widespread suspicion that half of these jobs were allocated based on quotas perceived as mere political favouritism.

Quotas for government jobs, including a 30 percent provision for descendants of war veterans, have been a long-standing practice in Bangladesh. There are allegations that these quotas are used by the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to benefit her own supporters.

In 2018, protests led to the abolition of the quota system and its replacement with a merit-based process. However, courts reinstated the old system this June, which analysts saw as rewarding her political base, especially given the economic constraints limiting other forms of support.

“This student movement arose from a state of persistent economic insecurity, where job growth was primarily in the informal sector, lacking rights and fair wages,” says Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Professor of Development Studies at Dhaka University.

“This fear was exacerbated by a cost-of-living crisis caused by prolonged high inflation,” he tells TRT World.

The number of unemployed graduates has nearly doubled to 800,000 over the past five years, as per the Labor Force Survey (LFS) 2022 released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The unemployment rate among individuals with tertiary-level education rose to 12 percent in 2022 from 11.2 percent in 2016-17.

The South Asian nation of some 170 million people currently has approximately 32 million people aged between 15 and 24, with around 12.8 million categorised as NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), according to a study by the BBS.

A lack of local jobs pushes low-skilled workers to seek employment abroad while the country simultaneously loses qualified graduates to higher-income nations. This "brain drain" creates a void in skilled professions, often filled by foreign professionals recruited by local companies and organisations.

"So, there has been long-standing discontent regarding the lack of job opportunities and unemployment, which found expression during this recent protest, drawing participation from many young graduates," explains Dr. Titumir.

Suppressed anger fuelled protests

Some analysts, meanwhile, highlight that the underlying resentment among opposition activists and dissenters transformed the student-led quota protest into a broader anti-government movement.

During the height of the protests, the streets of Dhaka and other parts of the country resonated with anti-government chants, some calling for her resignation.

Salman F Rahman, Hasina's advisor on industry and investment, said that what started as a student-led protest eventually evolved into a movement aimed at toppling the government, as leaders and activists from the major opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, joined in and took control of the protests from the students.

During the five days of violent protests, numerous establishments nationwide, including critical government buildings, Dhaka’s metro rail, and even a prison in the central district of Narsingdi, were targeted by individuals described by the government as "activists and leaders of BNP and Jamaat".

Additionally, several offices of the ruling party and the residences of its leaders were also attacked.

Police have already initiated a wave of arrests, with over 2,000 leaders and activists from the BNP and Jamaat apprehended in the past three days since the subsiding of the violent protests.

These individuals have been implicated in what the BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir termed as "fabricated cases" of "vandalism and arson" stemming from the student protests.

Speaking to TRT World, Dhaka-based political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman says it was evident that BNP and Jamaat activists participated in the student-led protests.

"Why wouldn't they? They are also citizens of the country, and over the past decade, their voices have been suppressed through force and legal actions. They have the right to express dissent in any lawful protest against the government."

Regarding the accusations against BNP and Jamaat members for attacks and vandalism on government establishments, Rahman acknowledged that he couldn't definitively state that the political opposition did not commit these acts, as any political party could exploit ongoing chaos.