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KATHMANDU, July 21. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has left the country after 15 years in power following two months of violent protests.
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister since independence, was forced to resign on Monday amid student protests over reservations.
She left the country along with Awami League party leaders and her sister Sheikh Rehana Siddiqui after thousands of protesters surrounded the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka, Gana Bhawan, by helicopter to India, BBC Bengali reported.
Hasina assumed office as prime minister on January 6, 2009. Hasina was last appointed as the fourth prime minister just seven months ago.
Hasina’s Awami League won 222 of 300 seats in the elections boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). However, the main opposition BNP boycotted the elections, questioning their fairness.
Despite calls for a neutral government in the election, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has been accused of using lethal force to suppress the opposition.
Analyst Hari Sharma said Monday’s events were not just a student movement but a situation caused by the government’s own way of working.
“Democracy is built on pluralism, with opposition and resistance. However, events in Bangladesh show what happens if the government becomes arrogant,” he told News Online. Yet, the government has neither listened to the people nor spared the opposition.”
Sharma believes that the result of lack of communication between the government and the people in a democracy can be seen in Bangladesh.
Violence increases after government crackdown
On June 5, the Bangladesh High Court ordered that 30% of government services be reserved for relatives of Bangladesh freedom movement soldiers.
In 2018, the high court had issued an order granting reservation while hearing a writ petition against the deleted clause. However, students were protesting against the reservation system, which was meant to provide accommodation for the grandchildren of those who participated in the freedom struggle, arguing that it was discriminatory.
Babar Ali, a Bangladeshi engineer and doctor, said, “It is unfair that the freedom movement has been going on for 53 years now and the children of those who participated in the freedom movement are still getting a large quota in government departments”. The students’ opinion is that the quota system should not be the same as before and should be reformed.
Students are demanding that recruitment in government departments should be based on merit. Some believe that the continuation of the reservation system will benefit Hasina’s ruling Aam People’s Party.
Hassia’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, played a leading role in the process of Bangladesh’s independence and became the country’s first president.
At that time he was a member of the Muslim League (which later became the Awami League). Hasina is now also the party’s chairperson. Therefore, experts say the decision to provide quotas for children from families who participated in the independence movement will benefit his party.
Ali said the movement against the quota system was first led by five students from Dhaka University who held placards and flags against reservations.
However, the report by human rights group Amnesty International mentioned that cadres of the Chhatra Vidyati League, the student wing of the ruling BJP, were sent to disrupt peaceful protests in the university.
The report said that “students were attacked with sticks, canes and batons while demonstrating peacefully” and “similar attacks occurred during protests at other universities.”
Bangladesh police fired tear gas and batons for the first time in the case on July 16. Police cracked down on students of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur during a protest led by student Abu Syed.
At the time, a photo of the movement’s leader Sadaya sitting on the street with his chest pressed was also published. However, the police shot him from 15 meters away.
The 25-year-old was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead by doctors. An autopsy showed he had been shot directly in the chest.
“After that, the students got even angrier, and as the movement grew, the number of leaders increased from 100 to 158, and protests against the quota system began across the country,” Ali said. “But the government’s crackdown didn’t stop.”
As of July 18, 32 people had died, while only 75 died on July 19. Finally, the government was ready to negotiate. However, the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star wrote that after more than 100 people died, the students refused to attend the talks.
The government continues to prioritize policies of repression, curfews, and internet shutdowns. Amid protests, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on July 21 overturned a high court order limiting the quota system for families of freedom fighters to 6%. The order said the 2% quota and other quotas from backward communities will be subject to open competition.
Protests continue after verdict
While the students are positive about the Supreme Court order, they are angry about the government’s crackdown.
Mavzur Hasan, a leader of the Jagruti Nagar University protest, told The Guardian that while the quota order was positive, the protests would not stop without justice for the students who lost their lives.
“Those who suppressed the student movement, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, should apologize,” he said. However, after discussions with security chiefs, Prime Minister Hasina responded that the protesters “are not students but terrorists who want to destabilize the country.”
The student movement had political overtones. Manoj Bahadur Gurkha, a scholar who studies Nepal-Bangladesh cultural relations, said the anger in Bangladesh was fueled by protests over reservations, which left dozens dead.
“Recently, many people spontaneously joined the student movement, so a large group of people gathered on the streets to oppose the government,” said Gurkha, a Bangladeshi citizen who speaks Nepali.
According to Reuters, since Sunday, the demonstrations have completely turned anti-government, with the prime minister’s resignation becoming the main demand.
Clashes between police and protesters on Sunday alone left at least 90 people dead and hundreds injured. The Bangladeshi government issued a nationwide curfew on Monday. Internet services were also shut down nationwide.
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters arrived at the prime minister’s official residence in the capital, Ghana Bhawan, on Monday, shortly after Hasina decided to leave the country. Shortly afterwards, Bangladesh Army Chief General Walker Zaman held discussions with opposition leaders.
He addressed the nation in the afternoon and said an interim government would be formed soon. He said he was going to meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who he said would come out in the evening.
The death toll reached at least 300 when student protests against the reservation and quota system turned violent.
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