With her dramatic escape from Dhaka, just moments before mob arson and vandalism, ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will have time to pause and consider what led to this little-expected outcome. Once the hope of Bangladesh’s youth, in battles for democracy, and a Prime Minister who breathed life into the Bangladeshi economy, Ms. Hasina was eventually seen as the students’ greatest adversary, held responsible for over 300 deaths in protests of the past two months. While she was admired for her crackdown on terrorist camps in 2009, handing over criminals to India, and her campaign against radicalisation, Ms. Hasina was recently more reviled for using the same strong-arm tactics on her opponents. The student protests over the quotas that began in July may have been the final straw; anger was building up over the past decade, with allegations of vote rigging and the suppression of media, and sending leaders, journalists and activists to jail on trumped-up charges. Even after winning elections in January for a fourth term, Ms. Hasina continued down that path, with cases and jail terms against Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, now tipped to head the interim government. Her actions, and refusal to give any space for dissent, have tarnished the legacy she holds most dear — that of her father, the much-beloved founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose statues now stand amidst the rubble. There is no doubt that the extreme mob violence and protests had political support, and possibly the encouragement of elements in Pakistan and the U.S., both of which had tense ties with the Awami League government. More worrying is the underlying involvement of Islamist groups that could affect the religious tolerance and secularism that Ms. Hasina tried to usher in during her 15-year tenure.
For India, each of these outcomes must be cause for introspection. New Delhi was not just complicit in Ms. Hasina’s actions against Bangladeshi opposition members by failing to advise her of the repercussions. It also failed to engage them, losing goodwill on Dhaka’s streets as well. The Modi government’s unalloyed support for Ms. Hasina also ensured her uncritical support, forcing her to accept even unpopular decisions such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. While securing Ms. Hasina’s safety and well-being, in a manner accorded to a leader who has always upheld India’s interests, the government must not waste time in engaging with the next regime and work to assist a peaceful transition to a more inclusive process for democracy in Bangladesh.
From hope to despair: On Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina
