Hasnat Abdullah Challenges Exiled Former BCL Leader Golam Rabbani to Return to Bangladesh
Golam Rabbani, former General Secretary of the now-banned student organization Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), has been living abroad since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5. Recently, he was seen in India with his wife and has remained active on social media from there.
The online exchange between Rabbani and Hasnat Abdullah, the convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, escalated on Wednesday, January 29, when Hasnat called for the prosecution of Awami League leaders and activists as part of the party’s ban. In response to Hasnat’s Facebook post, Rabbani commented:
“As an inseparable part of a meticulously designed conspiracy, you have handed the country over to the heirs of Pakistani lineage, pushing it into extreme anarchy and insecurity. You must be prosecuted first.”
Hasnat Abdullah swiftly responded with a direct challenge:
“Golam Rabbani, come back to the country. If you have the courage, return and seek justice here.”
Calls for Swift Justice
In his original post, Hasnat Abdullah criticized the delay in prosecuting Awami League members, drawing comparisons to post-revolution Syria. He wrote:
“Excessive civility has ultimately become our downfall. In Syria, within just three days of the revolution, 35 government officials of the Assad regime were executed. However, five months have passed since the success of the July uprising, yet not a single close ally of fascist Hasina or an enabler of fascism has been brought to justice. The current government’s voluntary delay in prosecuting the fascist Awami League leadership is an insult to the July uprising.”
He further stated:
“Had the August 5 uprising failed, fascist Hasina and the Awami League would have launched a bloodbath against the revolutionaries. They would not have hesitated to engage in widespread abductions, killings, and another mass genocide. Hundreds of participants in the revolution would have been executed, countless anti-fascist individuals would have been killed in crossfire, and thousands of students and civilians would have been imprisoned in the darkness of torture cells. The entire nation would have been plunged into mourning for innocent victims.”
The heated online confrontation underscores the ongoing political tensions in Bangladesh following the fall of the Awami League government.
