Chittagong University Central Students’ Union (Cucsu) executive member Akash Das submitted his resignation letter on the very day of taking his oath on Tuesday, 6 October.
He disclosed the matter during a press conference on Thursday, saying that he decided to step down due to long-standing deliberate deception and the absence of a favourable working environment.
Addressing the press conference, Das complained that although a full year had passed since his election, he was never involved in any union activities. He noted that information regarding his election was omitted even from the official Cucsu website, and apart from the gazette publication, he had no participation or presence at the official level.
Das further alleged that his oath-taking had been arbitrarily and intentionally held back by connecting a personal Facebook post to Cucsu. He claimed that while the Vice-Chancellor arranged his oath-taking on multiple occasions, elected members of the union obstructed the process.
In his resignation letter, Das claimed that had he breached any specific section of the constitution or the law, disciplinary action could have been taken, yet no such measure was instituted against him. He also challenged his accusers and those involved in the alleged conspiracy to present proof of their allegations before the student body.
Explaining the motives behind his resignation, Das said that there is no minimal conducive working environment in a union where representatives refuse to acknowledge or respect a fellow classmate as a representative.
He also highlighted the union members’ failure to protest following offensive comments made regarding students with disabilities. Das stressed that disregarding the mandate of 28,000 students and enduring prolonged deliberate deception compelled his decision to resign.
Reaffirming that he had not violated any clause of the Cucsu constitution or prevailing national laws, he added that he maintains no official or institutional relationship with Cucsu following the submission of his resignation.
Responding to the matter, Chittagong University Acting Registrar Md Hasan Miah said, “The resignation letter has not reached my hands. And receiving it does not mean accepted.”
Notably, Das had not taken his oath earlier due to posting a controversial comment about women regarding a rape incident on Facebook. In that post, he had written: “It’s not that the girl is innocent either. Rather, in the type of rape incidents that occur, most girls use rape as a shield to frame boys.”
