Moin Hossain Raju : A Rebellious Soul Against Injustice
Student politics has been a thing in the subcontinent ever since universities started opening. Political parties had their youth wings composed of students in every university. With how toxic politics could get, it was no surprise that student politicians would have violence of their own in time. One of the most famous student martyrs is Moin Hossain Raju of Dhaka University. When somebody enters DU, they can see the sculpture modeled after him. Different protests have occurred in front of this sculpture ever since with people demanding their rights one way or the other. However, a lot of people don't know the story behind his death. Lets explore one of the saddest chapters post 1990 Mass Uprising.
The Victim
Name: Moin Hossain Raju
University: Dhaka University
Affiliation: Bangladesh Chatro Union
Moin Hossain Raju was a student of soil science Department at Dhaka University and was a member of Bangladesh Chatro Union central committee. He had taken part in anti Ershad protests before as a member of this organisation. After Ershad fell , came the era of BNP vs Awami League in Bangladesh national politics and came the end of the truce between Chatrodol and Chatroleague during anti Ershad protests. Now, the animosity between them always resulted in violent clashes. Dhaka University was in chaos. Raju sadly became a victim in the midst of such a chaotic environment at Dhaka University. Raju always had a history of being someone who spoke out against oppression whenever he saw it. His death happened when he was protesting terror in the campus.
Incident
The incident that happened shows just how chaotic Chatrodol and Chatroleague were in the new era of Bangladesh post 1991. It was a Friday and Ramadan. On 13th March 1992, a student was getting beaten up by a group of Chatrodol people in Madhur Canteen. Raju heard about this incident taking place and wanted to prevent it but ended up injuring himself while trying to stop the violence.Noon came, Raju’s friends saw his hand was bandaged when they came to Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah Hall. He wanted to go home but his friends told him to take some rest and go home later. So he decided to sleep till afternoon and after that he and his friends went to TSC. After going to TSC and hanging out there at one point they started to hear gunfire.
In Dhaka University campus Chatroleague and Chatrodol engaged in gunfire with each other with one of the factions in front of Shamsun Nahar Hall. This created a situation of panic in Dhaka University. Police trying to diffuse the situation instead of firing tear gas at the armed students decided to fire tear gas at general students who were in TSC. Raju and his friends were very mad at the police. At one point , when the OC of Ramna police Thana told them to go away and said they were handling the situation. Raju bravely said, , ‘আপনারা কী দেখছেন তা তো আমরা সবাই দেখলাম। আপনার দুই পাশে থাকা সন্ত্রাসীদের কি চোখে পড়ছে না?’ (What you guys are doing with the situation we all can see. There are terrorists on campus who are shooting at each other and you can’t stop them?). The police then pointed at Raju and said to catch him. Raju said in defiance of them: “‘ধর আমাকে’”.(“Try to catch me”)
His friend, realising the severity of the situation, decided to drag Raju from there to the middle of TSC. The leftist student movements including Chatro Union decided to host an anti-terror rally protesting such violence on campus. Raju especially led the slogans (অস্ত্র শিক্ষা একসঙ্গে চলবে না’, ‘সন্ত্রাসের বিরুদ্ধে ছাত্রসমাজ এক হও’, ‘সন্ত্রাসমুক্ত শিক্ষাঙ্গন চাই, নিরাপদে পড়তে চাই’, ‘হল থেকে দল থেকে সন্ত্রাসীদের বহিষ্কার করো’) and led the procession along with other students who ended up joining him. General students also joined this procession. Some of the student leaders started giving out speeches midway through the procession. By the time they reached near Soparjito Shadhinota monument, the Chatrodol terrorists decided to fire at the procession instead. Two waves of gunfire happened targeted at the procession itself. Raju unfortunately got shot in the second wave of the gunfire. After Raju was shot his friend Mahmud started to ask for help from the police there but they instead ran away and fired another wave of tear shells at the people who were at the procession.
Aftermath and Reaction
After the smoke cleared, Raju was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital immediately. After arriving in the hospital doctors took him to the emergency room. His friends were present in the hospital. Later on, they contacted Raju’s elder brother who then told his mother and father to come as well. When it was around 9 or 10 PM, Raju was pronounced dead to the shock of everyone.
Unfortunately, the true perpetrators of Raju’s murder were never properly tried even though a case was filed in Shahbag Thana by the general secretary of Chatro Union back then against some top Chatrodol leaders. Police decided to not pursue this case further using an excuse that Raju’s father didn't allow the autopsy.
Raju’s death caused a great deal of sadness to those who knew him as a man who always stood forward for justice. His comrades in the Union loved him and his passing shocked them a lot. To honour his memory, they decided to make a monument in his honour. After numerous obstacles, the Anti Terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture sculpted by Shaymal Chawdhury was inaugurated on 17 September, 1997. Every year on 13 March, Anti Terrorism Raju Day is observed. Shamsur Rahman after Raju’s death wrote a poem called “Puraner Pakhi” in honour of his memory.
Raju was an activist against terrorism, against communal politics, was a person who loved science and to read books. He was a person who always stood for people who were being oppressed. He inspired people around him to stand up for what’s right. From Raju we can learn how to always stand for justice whenever we see injustices going in front of us. This is the lesson we can learn from one of the biggest martyrs of student politics in the history of Bangladesh. At the same time, we need to condemn student politics violence in general and sharply criticize the police for their inaction in matters like these consistently.
Sources
- শহীদ রাজুর ভাই বলছি | প্রথম আলো
- তিন দশকেও বিচার না হওয়ায় ক্ষোভ | কালবেলা
- বার বার আগুন থেকে বেরিয়ে আসবে রাজু | Dhaka Tribune
- বাংলাদেশের ছাত্র আন্দোলনের ইতিহাস ( ১৯৭২ থেকে ২০০০ খ্রিস্টাব্দ) by ড. মোহাম্মদ হান্নান
- Daily Ittefaq - March 14, 1992
- The Bangladesh Observer - March 14, 1992