After fifteen years in power, the Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country on August 5, chased out by young protesters. What started as a movement against quotas for civil-service employment evolved into a general upsurge against the autocratic rule of Hasina and her party, the Awami League (AL).
The situation changed within a period of five weeks, and the final victory was achieved at the cost of more than four hundred lives and several thousand injured and missing. The turn of events in this South Asian country evoked memories of Sri Lanka in 2022, or even the mass revolt that forced the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, to flee the country in 1986 after two decades of autocratic rule.
On August 5, Hasina was given just forty-five minutes to resign and leave the country as hundreds of thousands of protesters came out on roads, ready to defy the curfew at any cost. Even a day before, she appeared to have been in denial that her time was up as prime minister. However, a tide of people’s power swept her away like a powerful tsunami. The army chief facilitated her escape.
With Hasina’s ouster, a full circle of AL politics has been completed. The most recent phase of consolidation for the League started with its victory in the 2008 elections, when the fourteen-party alliance it led won with a thumping majority of 263 seats out of 300. Though the party had been in power twice previously (1971–75 and 1996–2001), this was indeed a historic win.
What started as a movement against quotas for…
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Auteur: Sushovan Dhar
