The political situation of Bangladesh is still not clear even after the historical change, with a Student Movement triggering the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed (on August 5, 2024). Hence, any comments on the current situation would be presu…
The political situation of Bangladesh is still not clear even after the historical change, with a Student Movement triggering the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed (on August 5, 2024). Hence, any comments on the current situation would be presumptive or hypothetical. After Hasina's resignation (as the Prime Minister) and departure from the country, Army Chief of Bangladesh Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that an All-Party Interim Government would be formed and it would run the country till the next General Election (to be held in next three months). He also hinted that Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, would be leading the Interim Government.
Still, there are some issues about the future of Bangladesh. Efforts should be made to involve all the major political outfits in forming such a government. Although members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Jatiya Party, representatives of protesting students and Army officers held a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu on August 6 to discuss the formation of the Interim Government, not a single leader of Hasina's Awami League was there. Again, if all the major parties join the Interim Government, then the differences in ideals and objectives between them will create fresh troubles. This particular issue is applicable to an Interim Government in any country. However, it has a completely different aspect in Bangladesh in the current situation. New instability could pave the way for Military Rule that can never be a satisfactory alternative!
The global community has seen the devastating images of Bangladesh since Hasina's departure. It, too, is a matter of deep concern! If the fundamentalist Islamist groups manage to take control of Bangladesh during the time of crisis, then it will be quite dangerous! In fact, attacks on minorities have already been reported as protesters have killed a number of political leaders, artists, thinkers (considered as torch bearers of Bengali culture) and also destroyed statues of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, considered as the Father of Nation in Bangladesh! Until these attacks and hatred are controlled, the real character of the political change of Bangladesh cannot be understood in a proper fashion!
What has been happening in Bangladesh since June 4, 20024 is worrisome as the damage (of properties and other national assets) is immeasurable. Most importantly, majority of the victims are young people and teenagers. The brutal firing on students by the Police during the Student Movement centred around the Government's Reservation Policy has taken a historic turn that has ultimately led to the fall of Prime Minister Hasina. One should keep in mind that the ongoing crisis is not, and cannot be, the outcome of a single event. In fact, the anger against the Awami League Government and Prime Minister Hasina has been building up for years! Hasina is accused of authoritarian misrule, rampant corruption, severe repression of the Opposition political forces, even by not allowing the Oppositions to contest in successive elections, etc. Time and again, history has shown what the consequences are when Authoritarian rulers come to power through a Democratic System. Hasina is the latest victim of a failed authoritarianism.
Former Cabinet Colleagues Slam Hasina Even though they have worked together for the past 15 years and followed each and every instruction of their leader during political turmoil and difficult times, her Cabinet ministers now blast former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Wazed for abandoning them during this critical time! On August 5 (2024), Hasina, along with some of her close relatives, left Bangladesh and took shelter in neighbouring India. Former ministers and senior leaders of Hasina's Awami League Party have claimed that they had no idea about her plan to flee from the country! One of her Cabinet members stressed: "If you were going to resign and leave the country, then why did you make us and party workers face the movement?"
Prothom Alo, a frontline Bengali-language daily published from Dhaka, has reported that six members of her Cabinet and five leaders of the Awami League's Central Committee got to know about Hasina's move from the media on August 5 afternoon. It was only after receiving the shocking news, they started looking for a safe place. Many of them made an attempt to leave Bangladesh. Those, who are still in the country, are disappointed, upset and shocked by the fact that their Prime Minister took shelter in India, leaving everyone in the face of public wrath. A former minister, who wished to remain anonymous, told Prothom Alo: "Due to Hasina's wrong decisions and stubbornness, party leaders and workers are in danger. Although she ensured the safety of her family, she left the others in real danger."
Two other members of her Cabinet claimed that they advised Hasina to resign as the Prime Minister on August 4 (2024)! However, she refused to do so. She changed her mind the next day and secretly left the country! A third Cabinet member told the daily: "Since the beginning of the Anti-Reservation Movement, Hasina has taken one wrong decision after another as the Head of the Government. We tried to convince her to accept the demands of students. However, we failed… and the country is on fire now."
Five more members of the Awami League, who did not wish to be named, claimed that had Hasina gone to jail, her party workers would not have been in so much danger! According to them, although Hussain Muhammad Ershad (February 1, 1930 - July 14, 2019), a military officer-turned-politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, was a dictator, he did not leave the country after a mass revolt triggered the fall of his Government. Instead, he had spent a long time in prison. It is unacceptable that the leader of Awami League, the party that had led the 1971 Liberation War (of Bangladesh), would do this, they added.
Hasina To Stay In India Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed on August 5, 2024 that former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina was staying in a secret shelter in India for the time being as she was mentally disturbed. He also said that Hasina needed time to think about her future moves, and the Narendra Modi Administration in New Delhi gave her time to decide about her future. However, Hasina's son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy claimed on August 6 that her mother had no plan to leave India in near future!
Talking to Germany-based international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), Joy said that Hasina did not seek political asylum in the UK or the US (as reported earlier). He stressed: "These are all rumours. She has not made a decision on that yet. She is going to stay in New Delhi for a little while. My sister is with her. So, she is not alone." He told DW that the former Prime Minister was upset as she could not believe that people, for whom she and her family did so much, could stage an attack and forced her to leave the country in "disgrace"! Joy, who is currently in Washington DC, further said: "I was worried not because she was leaving Bangladesh, but because she did not want to leave Bangladesh. We had to convince her. I said this is not a political movement anymore, this is a mob… they are going to kill you."
Commenting on the formation of an Interim Government in Dhaka, Joy stressed: "I do not know how the country will progress; it seems that the situation (of Bangladesh) will be like Pakistan. People will soon start saying that Sheikh Hasina's rule was the golden period of Bangladesh."
India Does Not Rule Out Foreign Hand Behind Turmoil Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Indian Minister of External Affairs, does not outrightly rule out the involvement of foreign players in the turmoil in Bangladesh. However, he has refrained from making categorical assertions on the sensitive issue, saying that the situation is too fluid.
Watch: Foreign hand in Bangladesh possible, says India
Speaking at an All-Party Meeting in New Delhi on August 6, the minister stressed: "It is too early to rule in or rule out anything, but a Pakistani diplomat did change his social media profile picture to support the agitation in Bangladesh." According to Dr Jaishankar, India is closely monitoring the political developments in Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries as the Narendra Modi Government would never compromise with national security.
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