Ducsu 2025, a litmus test for student politics

Tomorrow, Dhaka University will witness a moment of rare historical weight. It will be the first Ducsu election under a caretaker government, and the first major electoral test for the interim administration of Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.

This is the first real election since May 1990, as the 2019 election under the Awami League government was marred by allegations of Chhatra League dominance and voter intimidation. Many students felt disenfranchised, and the union's credibility suffered.

This year's election is no ordinary campus vote. Ducsu 2025 is much more than a contest for student union posts. It is like a referendum on the future of student politics in Bangladesh, and a litmus test of the caretaker government's promise of neutrality, legitimacy, and democratic reform.

The question is not simply who wins, but what wins. Will student politics break from its long legacy of intimidation and patronage? Or will old habits quietly creep back in?

For decades, campus politics was synonymous with partisanship, violence, and servility to ruling parties. Ruling party-backed student organisations became notorious for coercion and political patronage. Student unions, once vibrant platforms for activism and intellectual debate, were reduced to echo chambers of the ruling elite. The culture of fear and favouritism had hollowed out the democratic spirit of campus life.

Then came July 2024. A nationwide student uprising—galvanised by the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) platform—forced a reckoning. Their nine-point charter demanded the banning of partisan student organisations and the creation of truly democratic unions across all universities. The call resonated. Within months, at least 20 public universities moved to ban party-backed student politics. One is wont to wonder then whether Ducsu 2025 is the first attempt to give that demand institutional shape.

This election is about redefining leadership itself. For many, this is their first experience of voting free from fear. That alone is a democratic milestone.

The campus, once muted by intimidation, now crackles with manifestos and canvassing. According to The Daily Star, nearly ten panels are in the race, most nominating July 2024 protesters for top posts like vice-president, general secretary, and assistant general secretary. These candidates represent a new generation of student leaders—many of whom were at the forefront of the movement that challenged entrenched power structures and demanded accountability.

Candidates have walked the halls of every faculty, dormitory, and non-residential zone, urging students to believe that their vote can matter. Their campaigns are marked not by muscle or money, but by ideas—calls for curriculum reform, digital inclusion, mental health support, and institutional autonomy. The energy is palpable, and for the first time in years, students are engaging with politics not out of fear, but out of hope.

The reverberations of this election spill over beyond Dhaka University campus. It will be followed by long-awaited polls at Jahangirnagar University (September 11), Rajshahi University (September 25), and Chittagong University (October 12)—all of them resuming after more than three decades. These elections, long overdue, signal a broader shift in the political culture of higher education.

Yet DU's election carries particular weight.

DU has historically been the birthplace of almost every movement that has enabled the people of this land to speak in their mother tongue, win sovereignty and independence, drive away autocrats, and restore democracy, often at the cost of the lives of students.

From the Language Movement to the Six-Point Demand, from the 1969 and 1990 uprisings to the July 2024 uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina, Dhaka University has been the crucible of political change in Bangladesh. But for years, that legacy was buried under dormancy and partisanship.

It was the Ducsu leaders who spearheaded a movement of students of all ideologies, except the pro-Pakistanis, towards the Liberation War. Later, they also led the nation against the military dictatorship of General Ershad. Will Ducsu and other student union elections at universities in 2025 offer a chance to reclaim that legacy?

For the Yunus administration, nearing the end of its tenure, the stakes are existential. Ducsu cannot be treated as a symbolic gesture. A free and credible election here could set the tone for future national polls, proving that fairness and empowerment are possible. But a compromised vote risks reducing it to another chapter in Bangladesh's long saga of democratic disappointment.

The outcome will shape perceptions of neutrality, legitimacy, and democratic intent. It's not just about student leadership. For many, it will foreshadow broader political currents, especially in a post-movement, post-partisan context. A clean, credible Ducsu election could set the tone for future national elections, especially if it showcases procedural fairness and student empowerment.

Ducsu 2025 is where student politics may be reborn. It is also where the credibility of the caretaker government will be decided.