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Dhaka University has now become a “senior madrasa”, said Kishoreganj-4 MP and freedom fighter Advocate Fazlur Rahman.
He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a fresher reception organised by the Kishoreganj District Students’ Forum at Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University on Thursday evening.
Addressing students, Fazlur Rahman urged them to focus on acquiring knowledge, saying that simply wearing traditional religious attire does not make someone an alim, or Islamic scholar.
“Dhaka University has now become a senior madrasa. Do not follow this path,” he told the students, adding that clothing and language alone do not define a person.
Speaking about religion and politics, the veteran politician said religion and the “business of religion” were not the same. He urged students to follow the path shown by Allah and the Prophet while avoiding the commercialisation of religion.
He also criticised communalism and called for the establishment of a secular state. Referring to national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, he said Nazrul repeatedly advocated secularism and that his ideals were connected to the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War.
Fazlur Rahman also discussed the political developments that led to Bangladesh’s independence, including the 1952 Language Movement, the 1954 election, the 1966 Six-Point Movement, the 1969 mass uprising and the 1970 election.
Recalling his own role in the Liberation War, he said he was 23 when he joined the war and claimed that he had also helped organise the resistance.
He further claimed that he was present when Bangladesh’s national flag was designed and said he had been a close associate of flag designer Shib Narayan Das.
Referring to the importance of the Liberation War’s ideals, Fazlur Rahman said, “It is not the arms that fight, but the man behind the arms, and the ideology behind the man that fights.”
He also recalled the selection of the national flag and the song “Amar Sonar Bangla” and criticised those who question the Liberation War, saying, “The Liberation War is the truth.”
Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain attended the event as the chief discussant, while Kishoreganj District Council Administrator Khaled Saifullah Sohel Khan inaugurated the programme. Other university officials, lawyers and student leaders were also present.