I have known VC Mizan for the last 5-6 years through the talk show world. He is a familiar face with very specifically loyal views. His position has been constant. He makes no bones about it that his political ideas and brand comes first and not his unbiased analysis. That's what he swears by.

Unlike many others he is not "close to AL" but a loyal cadre. He is not a bird of convenience but commitment. He serves the University as a servant of the party primarily and as an academic after that though he is not politically active in the conventional sense. He has also never said that by becoming a VC he has given up his political identity as an activist.

He once had reportedly told media that he won't allow any "enemy of 1971" to join the University and he has kept his word. To him all BNP and JI members are enemies of 1971 so there are no teachers of such tag in in the Jagannath University campus. He will support all AL activists and welcome them into his University if he can. He sees that as his political and moral duty.

He doesn't say he is going to be fair towards all. He has clearly meant that he will favour AL and from among them he will be fair. There is no hypocrisy in this attitude. He is a party man and that is his first loyalty. He even attends AL Council meetings as a humble representative from some part of Bangladesh. You can call him many names but not of duplicity. Can that be said of others like him particularly VCs?

VC to Jubo League chief?

MIzan VC has not said he will hold both posts but if asked he will not hesitate to answer the call. He will join as the Chief of Jubo League which he agrees is in a spot of bother. He would like to dedicate himself to take the JL to its former glory, whatever that means. He hasn't said, he will hold two posts, take a leave and go there or any other combination. He is an activist and wants to do his duty. In a time when most are hypocrites and criminals while indulging in politics, few have shown his candidness. He deserves congratulations not condemnation for telling the truth.

Is being a VC a respectable post?

The other criticism is that he wants to give up a VC's job and become a political wing chief of the ruling party. This is classic Bangladeshi Bengali mentality in which any job is greater than any activity including social or political service. Had VC Mizan been just a Professor, nobody would have minded and many if not most applauded. Mosharraf of BNP is one but nobody ever said anything.

Yet teachers are involved in party politics and nobody feel they are insulting the profession. But as soon as he wants to go full time by giving up his "chakri", the job seeker and "huzur huzur" in us feel slighted. It shows that its posts we respect not profession.

We want jobs at any costs and social service is not considered greater than anything else. Which is why amlas enjoy kicking asses of ordinary people so much. They know that we love to feel good after being kicked. After all, we are just a citizen but he is a government appointed "chakor"/servant and any amla is greater than any social servant.

Our attitude shows our own duplicity. Are we serious when we say that the post of the VC is respectable? Just think of the current Dhaka University VC who has produced more ridicule, sarcasm, absurdity and memes than all the previous VCs put together. Does anyone on their serious mind consider his post as very honourble? Is the previous VC respected?

In fact two VCs, Mizan and Harun of National University were strong opponents of the last VC of DU Arefin and after his removal rewarded with jobs and Dhaka got Akhtar VC. It's all part of the same political process and let's face it, the VC's are basically run by the Chhatra League and that is how the system works.

Can VC Mizan make any difference to JL?

One could however ask if Mizan VC becoming the Chief of Jubo league will make any difference or not. Going by records, history, evidence and trends and looking at the structure of politics that exists, he will not. All the political and educational institutions are set in stone. Today several JL biggies have been caught for reasons we don't know. They had been doing all this since coming to power. Tomorrow when the purge stops, we will also not know why it has. It has nothing to do with what we once understood as politics which itself was an error. Everything that is happening is going to go on. The VC is no big deal and the JL chief will always be greater. Mizan has been both and that is why he knows.