Even though the press conference by ousted Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi emerged a much-hyped event, which was live-streamed by many global media outlets, it turned out to be an audio interaction only, where the Awami League supremo reiterated her decision to go back to her country by December 2026. A number of scribes, attending the program hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia on 5 August, tried to get the road map from Hasina about her return journey, but she avoided revealing any particular date or mode of transportations. In her first public address in two years, Hasina mentioned about the 2024 July-August rebellion and alleged that some motivated elements penetrated into the job quota reform movement with the single-point agenda to seek her resignation. Initially surfaced peaceful protests soon turned violent, where the demonstrators started engaging in widespread killings-arson- attacks on public infrastructure and law enforcement agencies.
She also claimed that the 12 February 2026 national election was stage-managed as her party Awami League was not allowed to participate and hence the suffering of Bangladeshi nationals continued. The countrymen remain under the grip of fear, repression and economic hardships, she asserted. Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged victorious. BNP chief Tarique Rahman became the new premier of the south Asian nation. Meanwhile, Hasina was awarded a number of punishments including a death sentence in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (of Bangladesh) for her crimes against humanity during the highly exposed July-August uprising.
Joining the virtual interaction, Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy made some stunning comments on the current status of Bangladesh under the Tarique Rahman-led government, which may generate serious concern for the government and more precisely 60 million residents of the north-eastern region. Joy claimed in his version that his homeland was turning into another Pakistan, where radical Islamist elements are now operating freely with the support from anti-India foreign elements. Terming Bangladesh as a failed state, Joy apprehended that the country, almost surrounded by eastern and north-eastern territories of India, may become a breeding ground for regional terrorism in the coming days. He also revealed that hundreds of convicted terrorists, arrested and imprisoned by the Awami League government, were recently released.
Reactions from Bangladesh over the Hasina-event were sharp and strong, where the country’s home minister Salahuddin Ahmed criticized New Delhi for allowing Hasina to repeatedly address the media including some global news agencies from the Indian soil. Reiterating Dhaka’s wish for friendly ties with New Delhi, the minister argued that Hasina’s presence in India somehow emerges as a discomfort for bilateral ties between the two countries. Earlier, a statement from the Bangla foreign ministry stated that Dhaka was outraged over an absconder’s open press briefing in New Delhi. It asserted that ‘convicted mass murderer Hasina and her mafia enterprise will never have a place in the polity of Bangladesh’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first global leaders to congratulate Tarique Rahman as the Bangla premier, but New Delhi remains non-committal over Hasina’s extradition. The strained relation was reflected in Tarique Rahman’s first overseas tour recently that did not include India (but Malaysia and China). Lately he has been invited to New Delhi to attend the forthcoming BRICS summit on 12-13 September, but no confirmation from Dhaka is received till now. Bangladesh’s deputy foreign minister Shama Obaed stated that the proposed visit to New Delhi was ‘yet to be finalized’. It’s speculated that the Bangla government insisted on Hasina’s extradition before their PM accepted the multiple invitations from New Delhi to visit the country.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is going for Presidential election on 20 August, where BNP stalwart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is poised to be next Head of the State. As the BNP has a majority in Jatiya Sansad, the party nominee (currently a minister in Tarique Rahman’s cabinet) Mirza Fakhrul is ensured of winning the polls and reaches Bangabhaban in the next few days. A trusted ally to former premier Khaleda Zia in the time of severe crisis including her ailments, he took virtual leadership of the BNP, when even Tarique Rahman was in exile for years. As a grass-root BNP worker, Mirza Fakhrul had to face humiliations from the ruling Awami League leadership. The 20 August election was necessitated as President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a Hasina dependable, resigned from his post prematurely on 24 July.
Awaiting a fair turn for ousted Bangla premier Hasina
