On Violent Political Transition in Bangladesh | Arup Kumar Sen

On August 5, 2024, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, fled to India in the wake of ongoing student protests and massive state violence unleashed on the protesting students. Despite the tragic loss of at least 300 lives, a curfew, and the deployment of the military, the student protests and resistance persisted under the leadership of the ‘Students Against Discrimination’ collective. What triggered the student protests is a complex question. Fixing higher quotas for the hereditary successors of the freedom fighters, known as muktijoddhas, in government jobs acted as a catalyst for the student protests. While accounting for the fall of the Hasina regime, The Hindu Data Team observed: “The protests against currently deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – who has been in power since 2009 in Bangladesh – seeking her resignation indicate the level of anger that has grown following a clear erosion of civil liberties and rights in contrast to the notable progress made in various socio-economic parameters during her long tenure.†(The Hindu, August 6, 2024)

The authoritarian attitude of the Hasina government in handling the student rebellion is recorded by a journalist based in Dhaka, Faisal Mahmud, after the fall of her regime: “Despite the growing outrage, Awami League officials seemed to downplay the people’s anger…Throughout the whole crisis, the Hasina government increasingly adopted authoritarian measures, including shutting down the internet and jailing thousands, in an attempt to control the situation. Most notably, it detained six young student protest coordinators under the guise of ‘protective custody’ and coerced them into making statements to halt the demonstrations. Predictably, this only fueled the outrage further.†(The Telegraph, August 7, 2024)

The fall of the Hasina regime has led to anarchic violence in Bangladesh. To put it in the words of a report carried in The Telegraph (August 7, 2024): “Anarchic violence raged across Bangladesh …with the revenge killings of Awami League leaders and police, attacks on minorities and the torching of hotels and clubs, as many supporters of the old regime went into hiding or attempted to flee the country. Amid the bloodbath – a veteran journalist put the death toll since Monday (August 5) at 1,000 – the country began baby steps towards forming an interim government with President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolving the parliament.â€

It is difficult to predict the future political scenario in Bangladesh. The concern expressed by the filmmaker, writer, and a progressive voice from Bangladesh, Shahriar Kabir, as he spoke to The Telegraph (August 6, 2024), should be our collective concern in this moment of profound crisis: “Over the years, there has been a rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh. Radicalisation has grown due to political patronage from the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami. Here I must add that the Awami League also pampered radical forces by allowing them in the party ranks…My major concern is what happens to liberation war values on which Bangladesh was created.â€