After 15 years in office as a widely-seen authoritarian ruler, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country on Monday, sparking nationwide celebrations. The resignation came after weeks of violent protests that left nearly 300 people dead. Bangladeshi army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman addressed the media on Monday and confirmed the news while also announcing that an interim government would take over immediately, and urging citizens to trust the military to restore peace. The weeks of protests were led by students against government job quotas. While the issue of quota was finally resolved, the violent and deadly response of the Hasina regime to the protests led to thousands of arrests and a communication blackout. That she called this organic movement and these students ‘razakars’ – a word used for those collaborators who did Pakistan’s bidding in the Bangladeshi context – was seen as unacceptable. Her resignation came a day after about 100 people were killed on Sunday and a curfew was imposed.
Hasina has in the meanwhile fled to India amidst the turmoil. Media reports suggest she will finally go to the UK. This was Hasina’s fifth term as prime minister. After a caretaker technocratic setup took charge for two years, Hasina’s party made a comeback in 2009 and she has remained in power since then. The 2009 election was not controversial but subsequent elections in Bangladesh were quite controversial, especially the recent one that was held in January this year. Hasina has been accused of crushing the opposition parties. The former prime minister Khaleda Zia remained incarcerated, and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted the recent polls. From executing Jamaat-e-Islami leaders to crushing opposition parties, particularly Zia’s BNP, Hasina and her Awami League had turned into a vengeful dictatorship over the last decade by turning the country into a one-party system. Critics say that she never created a second-tier leadership in her party and didn’t let good leaders grow as she kept herself swarmed with sycophants. She was also accused of stuffing the public and private sector with her party workers. However, not everything was bad under Hasina as she helped the Bangladeshi economy grow and is said to have done a lot to bring women to the workforce. Her close ties with India also helped her as she worked on a lot of bilateral projects that benefitted both countries.
Now that Hasina is out, India is likely to be worried about its influence in Bangladesh. Bangladeshis are saying that this moment is for them – not for India nor Pakistan. By most accounts, the protests that students started and which were possibly added to later on were against an autocratic government. By most accounts, that is an achievement. However, cautious observers are calling for restraint in analyses of the Bangladeshi situation and to see what the ouster of Hasina brings in its stead. Will the interim government give way to quick elections? And who will contest? Now allowing any one or the other political party just means an imposition once again of a not wholly representative system. There are concerns about the future of Bangladesh: will there be military rule or a hybrid interim setup, will the elections be managed or free? These are the questions that need answers. For the moment, Hasina may be gone but the struggle for democracy has just started.