Cover Story 
 

Cover Story

Razakar Rules

With the expulsion of Hasina Wajid, it is now evident that Sheikh Mujib’s memory, along with anti-Pakistan rhetoric, has no place in contemporary Bangladeshi politics.

By Atif Shamim Syed | September 2024


Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s hasty departure from Dhaka in a military helicopter on August 5th was something no one had predicted. The Iron Lady of Bangladesh, who recently won her fourth consecutive term, was set to rule the country for the next five years unabated and unhindered. However, in a twist of fate, the incumbent prime minister was forced to relinquish power after only a few days in office. She and her sister were just in time to escape towards neighbouring India. Only minutes after they left, Sheikh Hasina’s home was attacked and ransacked by angry mobs.

Originally enacted by her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the civil service quota set off public outrage against Ms. Hasina. The quota system reserved half of the highly coveted government jobs for particular groups, including descendants of freedom fighters who got the lion’s share.

Hasina abolished the quota system in 2018 amid widespread public protests. However, it was reinstated in June 2024 through a court order. Students were angered and began protesting inside university campuses. Rather than listening to their legitimate demands, the government decided on a heavy-handed approach and unleashed its student wing, the Chhatra League, on the demonstrators. Violence broke out throughout university campuses in early July. In Dhaka University, Chhatra League gangs were seen attacking protestors with sticks and pistols. Security forces soon joined the fray, killing dozens of unarmed students, including Abu Sayed, a student at Begum Rokyea University. The police shot down Sayed on July 16 outside the university gates in broad daylight. By this time, country-wide university campuses were on fire.

Students scored their first victory on July 21 when the Supreme Court overturned the high court’s ruling and reduced the freedom fighter quota to 5%. This, however, did not appease the protestors. They demanded Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and justice for hundreds of their fallen comrades. Another round of demonstrations was called for August 4. The ruling Awami League mobilized its members for a counter-demonstration. Dhaka became a battleground. Dozens of people were killed in the ensuing carnage. The government imposed a curfew and shut down all communication networks. Protestors refused to back down and called for further demonstrations on August 5.

By this time, it was evident that Sheikh Hasina had lost the initiative. After discussing the situation with his senior cadre, the army hammered the final nail in her career’s coffin when its chief informed Hasina that his soldiers would not fire on their people to enforce the curfew. He urged Hasina to leave the country, fearing that the security forces would be unable to protect her from the overwhelming crowds preparing to converge on her residence. The prime minister had no choice but to relinquish power and flee.


Sheikh Hasina’s political demise marks the end of a tumultuous chapter in the history of Bangladesh. Until recently, the country was hailed as a model of globalization and development, with a rapidly growing economy, rising incomes, and improving social indicators. While the government celebrated all these positive signs, it failed to address, let alone acknowledge, the flaws that kept on piling: widening income gaps, rising unemployment, and Hasina’s increasingly autocratic behaviour.

The last few days of the regime revealed Hasina Wajid’s true nature and profound disdain for any opposition. Though the quota system triggered events leading to her resignation, it wasn’t the only reason for widespread public discontent. The Awami League government was also short of political legitimacy.

Khalida Zia, the main opposition leader, was jailed for ten years. Government agencies constantly harassed her party workers, many of them detained under trumped-up charges. Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were convicted and hanged. Political opposition was systematically crushed.

Unfortunately for Hasina, her growing political repression coincided with the country’s receding economy. For the past few years, the Awami League government claimed to have achieved one economic milestone after another, but the fruits of this economic miracle did not reach the poor. The wealthiest sections of Bangladeshi society gobbled up the lion’s share, while people at the bottom received just one percent. Quota protests in July were a manifestation of student discontent. Unable to withstand any opposition, Hasina labelled them as Razakars, questioning their patriotism.

The swift precipitation of Sheikh Hasina’s regime underscores its fragility and the ineffectiveness of the state’s coercive institutions that sustained it. Moreover, the regime’s beneficiaries—both within the bureaucracy and the army—could not remain loyal to Sheikh Hasina in the face of mounting public anger.

Sheikh Hasina did not go down alone. Her father’s legacy went down with her. Over the years, Sheikh Hasina cultivated a cult of personality around Sheikh Mujib, the founding father of Bangladesh. This carefully cultivated phenomenon provided legitimacy to the Awami League’s rule. With the expulsion of Hasina Wajid, it is now evident that Sheikh Mujib’s memory, along with anti-Pakistan rhetoric, has no place in contemporary

Bangladesh has achieved its second liberation: Muhammad Yunus

Over the past 30 years, Bangladesh has become known for many achievements and positive characteristics: declining poverty rates; being the birthplace of microcredit and the Silicon Valley of social entrepreneurship and social business; developing the concept of holding elections under neutral caretaker governments to inspire trust in the competing parties; developing an industry that employs millions of women to export billions of dollars’ worth of garments to clothe the world; and becoming the eighth-most-populous country in the world. Only four languages have more native speakers than our national tongue, Bengali.

The next step will be forming an interim government that should release all political prisoners and ensure a free and fair election within a few months. I am willing to help support this process, and I hope other people will join me. We urgently need new politicians and leaders to step forward. Above all, we need young people who are not obsessed with settling scores, as too many of our previous governments were, but are instead intent on becoming a new generation of leaders focused on the future of our great nation. The student leaders at the forefront of our second liberation should continue to provide leadership in all respects.

I will wish them well and will continue to support them enthusiastically. I’ll encourage them to create a world of three zeros: zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration, and zero unemployment. For too long, Bangladesh’s politics have been backward-looking. Starting today, let us focus on building a future together that springs from the second liberation that occurred on August 5th. A new generation of young leaders should emerge among those who led us to this important new victory. Their energy and vision for the nation can help sanctify the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for this new opportunity—an opportunity that we must not squander.

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