Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday, ending 15 years in power as thousands of protesters defied a military curfew and stormed her official residence.
Shortly after local media showed the embattled leader boarding a military helicopter and fleeing the country with her sister, Bangladesh’s military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman announced plans to seek the president’s guidance on forming an interim government. He promised that the military would stand down, and launch an investigation into the deadly crackdowns that fueled outrage against the government, and asked citizens for time to restore peace. “Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible,” he said. “I have ordered that no army and police will indulge in any kind of firing.”
“Now, the students’ duty is to stay calm and help us,” he added. The protests began peacefully as frustrated students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs, but the demonstrations have since morphed into an unprecedented challenge and uprising against Hasina and her ruling Awami League party. The government attempted to quell the violence with force, leaving nearly 300 people dead and fueling further outrage and calls for Hasina to step down.
She has landed at the Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad near New Delhi. She was received by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the Hindon Airbase.
LIVE FEED
Bangladesh Protest Live Updates | ‘Honoured that Sheikh Hasina feels safe in Bharat’: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut
BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Monday said it is a matter of great honour that Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina “feels safe in Bharat” after Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and landed near Delhi in a military aircraft amid unrest in her country.
Ranaut, a national award-winning actor and BJP MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, also criticised those questioning “Hindu Rastra (a Hindu nation)”. She claimed that Muslim countries are not safe “even for Muslims.
“Bharat is the original motherland of all Islamic Republics around us. We are honoured and flattered that honourable Prime Minister of Bangladesh feels safe in Bharat but all those who live in India and keep asking why Hindu Rashtra? Why Ram Rajya? Well it is evident why!!! “No one is safe in Muslim countries not even Muslims themselves. Unfortunate whatever is happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Britain. We are lucky to be living in Ram Rajya,” the 38-year-old MP, who has often courted controversies with her remarks, said in a post on X.
Hasina on Monday fled the country in a military aircraft amid massive violent protests with the army stepping in to fill the power vacuum. She landed at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad near New Delhi.
Bangladesh Protest Live Updates | Hasina Will Not Make A Political Comeback, Says Son Joy
Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will not make a political comeback, her son and former official adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Monday, asserting that she left the country for her own safety on her family’s insistence. Hasina, 76, resigned and left the country for London earlier in the day amid mass protests against her government.
In an interview with Newshour on the BBC World Service, Joy said there would be no political comeback for his mother. He said that Hasina had been considering resigning since Sunday and had left the country for her own safety after her family insisted.
Joy said that his mother, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, was “so disappointed that after all her hard work, for a minority to rise up against her”, according to the report.
Expressing Hasina’s disappointment, he said, “She has turned Bangladesh around. When she took over power, it was considered a failing state. It was a poor country. Until today it was considered one of the rising tigers of Asia. She’s very disappointed.”
It is likely that Sheikh Hasina will meet her daughter, who resides in New Delhi. The clashes between protesters demanding Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh on Sunday erupted days after more than 200 people were killed in violent clashes between police and mostly student protesters. At least 300 people have been killed within a fortnight.
