Facebook profile was red-faced on Tarique Rahman's advice, claims Chhatra Dal leader

In July 2024, a large number of people and students across the country turned their Facebook profiles red, rejecting the government's declared mourning in protest against the quota reform movement and violence against students and the public. Nationalist Chhatra Dal leader Irfan Ahmed Fahim has claimed that the controversial program of the movement was implemented on the advice of then BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman. He recently revealed this information while participating in a private television podcast.

Government Poet Nazrul College Chhatra Dal convener and former acting president Irfan Ahmed Fahim further mentioned in the podcast that they took this initiative under the guidance of the then central president and general secretary of Chhatra Dal. He said that Chhatra Dal was in constant contact with those who were leading the movement from the front lines at that time and the street movement was basically conducted through the joint coordination of all.

Highlighting the overall context of the July mass uprising, this Chhatra Dal leader said that this mass uprising was not a single movement of any specific political party, but rather there was spontaneous participation of people from all walks of life in the country. And Sheikh Hasina was ultimately forced to flee the country in the face of this united resistance of the general public, regardless of party or opinion.

In the podcast, Irfan Fahim presented the reality of the streets of Old Dhaka during the movement and his own experience. He claimed that many students of the Government Kabi Nazrul College in Old Dhaka were martyred and injured during the movement, a large part of which did not receive adequate coverage in the mainstream media of the time. He stressed on presenting the correct history of the sacrifices of ordinary students and ordinary people in the mass uprising.