Folks have a good time the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 5, 2024. | Picture credit score: Reuters
On August 5, as Sheikh Hasina’s time period as Prime Minister drew to an in depth, the Awami League stated there have been indicators that the method of session throughout the get together, which was based mostly on friendship and camaraderie, was weakening. The indicators of systemic weakening turned noticeable fairly dramatically quickly after Prime Minister Hasina returned from China, slicing quick a go to she had deliberate for a number of months. By the point Hasina returned from Beijing on July 10, the forces that might finally result in her ouster had already been mobilized.
Preliminary studies steered that his abrupt return was because of China’s refusal to offer a significant monetary package deal to Bangladesh. Nevertheless, speculations in regards to the Beijing go to had been quickly changed by the anti-quota motion of scholars, who had been demanding reform within the job reservation that earmarked almost 30% of presidency jobs for descendants of the 1971 freedom fighters.
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As tense exchanges between the federal government and college students started, Ms Hasina shocked the scholars by calling them “razakars”. Ms Hasina has a repute for being a pointy talker and has usually used the time period to deal with her political opponents, however the usage of the time period “razakar” to check with younger college college students was not nicely acquired by civil society as “razakar” is a time period meant completely for many who opposed Bangladesh’s freedom in 1971 and allied themselves with Pakistani forces.
There have been essential feedback on social media in regards to the Prime Minister’s intemperate language in direction of younger college students, suggesting that Ms Hasina, regardless of her unprecedented return to energy for the fourth time, was a lonely determine deserted by her prime aides who had been along with her all through her journey to energy over the previous 4 a long time.
The position of shut advisers in shaping the younger Sheikh Hasina right into a smart politician was seen most clearly throughout 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities handed the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA), which aimed to provide non-Muslim minorities in Bangladesh (and likewise Pakistan and Afghanistan) the suitable to hunt refuge in India in case of atrocities of their birthplace.
Because the Indian parliament debated the legislation and anti-CAA protests erupted in Delhi, Assam and elsewhere, the Bangladesh authorities maintained a deliberate silence.
This coverage of calm calculation to additional self-interest was formed by her then shut adviser Mashiur Rahman, a Harvard-educated administrator with deep bureaucratic friendships throughout the Indian system and different multilateral our bodies. After her final election victory, Rahman had not been seen in Hasina’s firm, giving the impression that the Prime Minister had sidelined her senior colleagues and advisers and that now a brand new set of youthful advisers could be promoted. Rahman was retained as Financial Affairs Adviser, however his visibility diminished.
The same buzz additionally enveloped the profile of Dr Gauhar Rizvi, who previously was usually used to appease the frayed material of the Bangladesh-US relationship, which had a historical past of breaking out into wars of phrases. That Ms Hasina was rising uninterested in her senior colleagues and would reinvent her workforce with the infusion of younger blood was evident in 2023, when she defused her Overseas Minister A.Okay. Abdul Momen after he made some public gaffes. This gradual marginalisation of senior figures from the Awami League excessive desk was noticeable when on essential points Ms Hasina’s voice turned that of the brand new Data Minister Mohammad A. Arafat.
Earlier than turning into a minister in Hasina’s new authorities, Arafat had develop into well-known for his eloquent speeches within the Dhaka suppose tank, the place he used to defend the insurance policies of the Hasina authorities. Nevertheless, his aggressive feedback within the context of the anti-quota protests had been ill-timed and added to the controversy created by Hasina’s personal remarks in regards to the protesters. One other youthful colleague, Overseas Minister Hasan Mahmud, additionally got here into the highlight after he made a public touch upon the West Bengal Chief Minister’s remark at a public rally providing refuge to Bangladeshi residents in the event that they fled the crackdown by Hasina’s police.
Ms Hasina reinvented herself as Prime Minister from her first time period, which started in 1996, however lengthy earlier than that she was a road fighter who took on the forces of President Hossein Mohammed Ershad. Her battle towards Ershad was made potential by her many progressive buddies and colleagues, together with Ivy Rahman, who was killed when Ms Hasina’s rally was bombed throughout BNP rule on August 24, 2004.
Ivy Rahman was one of many Awami League activists killed in that assault. Though Hasina subsequently dominated from 2009 till July 2024, she discovered herself more and more remoted from her prime advisers and, in the long run, it was her sister Rehana who remained her closest adviser – a reminder of her early days when, following the assassination of her father, Sheikh Mujib, and his household, Hasina had thrown herself into politics.
