A slogan lost in translation

July 17, 2024

DHAKA – The course of the ongoing quota reform protests has taken a drastic turn over the last two days. On Tuesday, at least six individuals, mostly students, died during clashes between protesters and members of Bangladesh Chhatra League and the police—marking a further escalation from the previous day’s events. Few would have imagined this scenario when students gathered in Dhaka University and other campuses on Sunday night.

For over two weeks prior to this, they had been boycotting classes and exams, and blockading key intersections in Dhaka and major highways in different places of the country with the demand to reform the quota system in civil service recruitment. But what made them flood campus streets on that night was a specific comment that touched a nerve for the wider student community. On Sunday, in response to a journalist’s question during a press conference, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “Why do they [anti-quota protesters] have so much resentment towards the freedom fighters? If the grandchildren of the freedom fighters don’t get quota benefits, should the grandchildren of Razakars get the benefit?”

This questionable dichotomy is what lit the fuse, leading to students exploding in protest with renewed vigour. And among all the slogans heard across the DU campus that night, the one that seems to have had the most intense impact is the one that goes: “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar!” (Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!) There have been other, more explanatory variations of the slogan, but for whatever reason, those didn’t get much coverage. The question is, what made these students—otherwise proud citizens of an independent Bangladesh, and carrying the legacy of our