Analysing the long-standing rule of Miss Hasina and future of Bangladesh

September 24, 2024

On August 05, Ms Hasina resigned and fled to India after protests brought down the country’s longest-serving Prime Minster. She served as Prime Minister for 20 years being the daughter of the founding father and President of Bangladesh ‘Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’ and was the world longest serving female P.M. When Ms Hasina resigned and left her country, a huge crowd entered her official residence in Dhaka. Protestors were seen carrying out furniture from her residence. Protestors attempted to tear down the statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Ms Hasina’s Father).

The protest began in early July as University students demanded to put an end to quotas in civil service jobs as 18 million University graduate students were unemployed. In the initial stages of the protest, their demands were started being met but protests soon transformed wider.

Ms Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew, cut off the internet continuously in many parts of the country and including thousands of arrests, extrajudicial killings, security forces storming into hospitals to snatch suspects. As the protest expanded, 300 people were killed in the unrest. Bangladesh media and the people in protest blamed the police while the government says that police officers opened out fire for their self-defence and to protect state property. Most of the quota was backed by the government following a Supreme Court ruling last month, but student continued to protest demanding justice for those people who were killed, and injured and demanded Ms Hasina resignation.
Dr. Samina Luthfa (assistant professor of sociology in the University of Dhaka) says, ‘It’s not (just) students anymore, it seem that people from all walk of life have joined the protest movement.’ Students were angry and they wanted the quotas in government job to end because that meant that there would be more job opportunities for them.

Bangladesh has one of the most fastest-growing economies in the world. Bangladesh is the home of 170 Million people.Experts pointed out that growth had not been translated into jobs for university graduate students. The country sold around $40 Billion worth of clothes to the global market. The sector employed more than four million people. However, factory jobs were not enough for the younger generation.

According to the World Bank, per capita income tripled in the last decade as more than 25 million people were lifted out of poverty over 20 years, but many felt that growth was helpful for those people close to PM’s Awami League. On the other hand, Dr Luthfa said: ‘We are witnessing so much corruption, especially among those close to the ruling party. Corruption has been continuing for a long time without being punished.
Even though her rule had built many infrastructure projects such as roads, hospitals, bridges, educational institutions, factories, and metro rails there were also allegations of rampant corruption. Right activists pointed out the corruption of Ms Hasina’s government. As government was accused of stifling dissent, silencing the media, and jailing its strong critics, but the government denied the charges. The anti-government had begun investigating former police chief Benazir Ahmed-who has been seen as a close ally of Ms Hasina. He has been accused of amassing millions of dollars and denied all these allegations while Ms Hasina denied allegations of corruption on her.

Dr Luthfa said: ‘The anger against the government and the ruling party has been accumulating for a long time. People are showing their anger now. People resort to protest if they don’t have any recourse left.’ The main opposition Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-boycotted elections in 2014 and again in 2024, saying that fair and just elections were not possible under Ms Hasina’s government. But now Ms Hasina is no longer the PM of Bangladesh, the protestors ordered to release of former PM Khaleda Zia from jail. The public wants elections to be held under a neutral caretaker administration. However, President Shahabuddin said that an interim government would be formed and fair elections would be held soon.