I Don’t Need to Win DUCSU, I Just Want to Survive": Abdul Kader

Abdul Kader, a vice-president (VP) candidate for the Anti-Discrimination Student Parliament panel in the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election, has expressed fear and distress over ongoing smear campaigns against him. In a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon, he wrote, “I don’t need to win DUCSU, I just want to survive.”

Abdul Kader gained prominence during the July mass uprising when he announced a nine-point demand as a coordinator. Last year, during anti-government protests, when seven coordinators were detained and taken to the Detective Branch (DB) office, Kader’s messages to the media outlined the programs of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. Following the fall of the Awami League government, he became the convener of the Dhaka University unit of the Bangladesh Democratic Students’ Parliament, a platform formed by students who were at the forefront of the uprising. Kader is a residential student of Bijoy Ekattor Hall at Dhaka University from the 2018-19 session.

Among the VP candidates in the DUCSU election, Abdul Kader is one of the most discussed figures. Expressing his anxiety, he wrote on Facebook, “I don’t need to win DUCSU, I just want to survive. I humbly request at least this much mercy.” Referring to the escalating harassment, Kader mentioned, “It started after I spoke about that razakar, and it’s been increasing ever since.” He added, “Since then, I haven’t been able to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night, my body trembling. How much more can a person endure? I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” Kader also noted that the harassment has extended beyond online platforms, stating, “If this harassment was limited to online spaces, I could bear it. But they’re even going to my home and harassing my mother!” In his post, he further wrote, “You could have avoided spreading propaganda by selectively editing a statement from 10 days ago. If the full statement was presented, people would have understood its essence. This is just the beginning, with five more days to go. Thinking about what might happen in that time makes me even more traumatized.” When contacted, Abdul Kader told Prothom Alo, “A smear campaign is being run against me. They’re taking snippets of my previous statements, stitching them together, and spreading misinformation. Fake Facebook accounts are being used to deliberately tarnish my image.”