“This is how autocrats fall! Victory to the people power!” wrote Ali Riaz, professor at Illinois State University, one of the most knowledgeable experts on Bangladeshi politics, on social media as soon as the news of the resignation of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina started to spread. On August 5, after weeks of deadly anti-government protests that rocked the Asian country and killed over 300 people, PM Hasina, 76, was forced to step down and has fled the country “for her own safety,” ending more than two decades at the helm of the country. It is a watershed moment for Bangladesh, whose people – and most remarkably young people with no political affiliation – have managed to oust what was widely perceived as an authoritarian leader whose brutal policies disenfranchised many citizens during her long rule.
On August 5, the army chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, announced her resignation and the formation of an interim government in a televised address to the nation. On the same day, jubilant people took to the streets to celebrate, while some protesters stormed the former prime minister’s palace, looting and vandalizing her residence and the memorial to her late father and Liberation War icon Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina’s departure has left a worrying vacuum in Bangladeshi politics, which has long been marked by the opposition between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as the country has experienced several military coups since 1971, the most recent in 2007. Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved the parliament for an interim government to take over.
The power vacuum left by Hasina’s downfall was quickly filled by the organizers of the student protests. On Tuesday, Bangladesh’s President Shahabuddin and security chiefs agreed to student leaders’ request to appoint Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as a transitional leader, a move aimed at restoring order after the mass protests that forced Hasina to resign. Yunus, 83, a Bangladeshi economist, microfinance pioneer, and founder of the Grameen Bank, has always been a vocal critic of Hasina’s government, which has targeted him on several occasions. Yunus had called her resignation a “second liberation day” for Bangladesh. His appointment as “chief adviser” to the transitional government is aimed at restoring democracy to the country, which was devastated by the violence of the past month.
“The choice of Yunus is a clear testimony that unlike on previous occasions, when political parties, in consultation with the military and bureaucracy, decided who would head the government, a new political force is making the decision this time around” wrote Professor Riaz. “The students have emerged as the center of power and will seek to exercise that power in the selection of the interim government’s cabinet. It is notable that the appointment of Yunus is beyond the purview of the existing constitution. While the political actors and army leaders appear to be operating with the understanding that Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin is the chief executive, they seem to recognize that under the circumstances, all actions draw their legitimacy from the student-led movement”.
The past few weeks have been extremely tense in Bangladesh. The day before Hasina fled to neighboring India, reportedly to seek asylum in the United Kingdom, thousands of protesters gathered at the junction between Old and New Dhaka to demand the resignation of the Hasina government after a month of protests ignited by the quota reform. “One demand, one objective, Sheikh Hasina’s resignation!” they chanted, waiving Bangladeshi flags and red-tinted effigies of the now-former leader. August 4 turned out to be the deadliest day of the protests, with some 91 people killed, including 14 police officers. Protesters and police clashed again, and the day marked a turning point in the month-long protest. In defiance of a nationwide curfew, the student movement called for a “Long March to Dhaka” on the next day, when Hasina finally decided to step down and leave the country by helicopter. The army played a crucial role, as it told Hasina that troops would not open fire on civilians to enforce the curfew, according to Reuters.
The popular uprising that has engulfed Bangladesh for over a month had started in the early days of July, when university students began protesting against an early June decision by the High Court to reinstate the quota system for civil service jobs, overturning a 2018 move by Hasina’s government to scrap it. The quota system reserved 56 percent of the jobs for certain categories of people, of which 30 percent was allocated to veterans who fought against Pakistan in 1971 and their descendants. The remaining 26 percent quota was reserved for women, indigenous communities, underdeveloped regions and differently abled persons. The decision to reinstate the system, seen as a means to favor supporters of Hasina’s Awami League, triggered nationwide protests led by the students.
The protests turned violent in mid-July, when the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party, joined police in attacking student protesters in the capital Dhaka. The government decided to close universities and shut down the Internet in an attempt to quell the protests and cover up the mass atrocities committed by the special forces against unarmed students. At least 187 people were killed and thousands arrested in the government crackdown between July 10 and 20 alone. Most of the quota was scaled back following a Supreme Court ruling, but students continued to protest, demanding justice for those killed and, most importantly, calling for Hasina’s resignation. The anti-quota protest, started by Gen Z students, spread like wildfire across all sections of society and became a broader anti-government movement that will go down in history as the anti-discrimination student movement that brought down Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister.
“The toppling of Hasina came at the hands of a force not seen before in Bangladesh: a mass grassroots movement unaffiliated with any party and yet capable of reshaping the country’s political landscape”, wrote professor Ali Riaz on Foreign Affairs, “It is inspiring that genuine people power could do away with a seemingly invincible autocrat”. Riaz explains how the popular uprising in July reflected the convergence of two strands of discontent: One with the quota system – which directly affected the youth, who were angered by a system that was not based on merit, in a country where youth unemployment hovers around 40 percent – and the other, which brought thousands of ordinary citizens into the streets, with “a deep-seated sense of economic and political disenfranchisement” as the fruits of the much-vaunted economic growth failed to reach a large number of people who continued to struggle with price hikes, inflation and endemic corruption.
Over the years, Hasina – once seen as a champion of democracy – had turned to increasingly authoritarian policies. After being detained during the military intervention, she returned to power in 2009 and was re-elected three more times, most recently in January 2024 for her fifth term, but many critics argue that these elections, boycotted by the main opposition party, were neither free nor fair. “Still, she retained a large support base, thanks to patronage but also to real governance successes – including Bangladesh’s much-ballyhooed economic growth story”, wrote Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, on Foreign Policy, “In those 15 years, her party ultimately cracked down hard on the political opposition, and increasingly on dissent more broadly, using arrests, enforced disappearances, media censorship, and digital security laws to suppress criticism of the government”.
On August 8, Muhammad Yunus took oath as the Chief Advisor of the newly formed transitional government, marking the “beginning of a new era” for Bangladesh. His arrival in Dhaka and his swearing-in ceremony were greeted with much enthusiasm and emotion. It is indeed a historic day for Bangladesh and its people. Yunus faces a heavy task and serious challenges, but there is a widespread belief that he is the right person to lead the country through the upcoming elections and ensure a smooth transition to an elected and democratic administration. “The brutal, autocratic regime is gone,” Yunus told the nation, “Tomorrow, with the rising sun, democracy, justice, human rights, and full freedom of fearless expression will be enjoyed by all, regardless of party affiliation. That is our goal.”
Cover photo: Burnt Awami League party office is pictured as anti-government protestors set fire in Dhaka on August 6, 2024, after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman / AFP.)
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