BCL notice board up in Modhur Canteen

Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL) Dhaka University (DU) unit yesterday put up its notice board inside Modhur Canteen, triggering apprehension among other student organisations that it was a ploy to turn it into its office.

There were also allegations that BCL would be enforcing a ban on smoking inside the canteen.

"There was no office in DU to run our activities. So we placed this notice board here to publicise our programmes," the unit president, Abid Al Hasan, told The Daily Star, adding that other student organisations could also put up theirs.

On the ban, he said it was meant for their activists as smoking was injurious to health. "It will serve as a warning for others," he added.

Leaders of different student organisations said BCL should have taken the decision after consulting them.

"The canteen has never been used as an office of a political party till date. Other organisations also hold their meetings here. The democratic atmosphere has been disrupted in the canteen, a memorial of our Liberation War," said Nasir Uddin Prince, office secretary of Samjtantrik Chhatra Front.

Bangladesh Chhatra Union's DU unit General Secretary Tuhin Kanti Das accused BCL of trying to show off its dominance.

Modhu Da's son, Arun Kumer Dey, who runs the canteen, said, "The canteen is open for all associations. I think the canteen will appear clean as posters would be placed on the notice board instead of on the walls."