Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on Wednesday, reiterated her promise to return to Bangladesh, saying her return was not about getting back to power but about restoring "security, development, prosperity and peace" and putting the country "back on the right track."
Speaking publicly for the first time since her ouster in August 2024, Hasina addressed a Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia event through a virtual interaction from Delhi. She has been living in exile in India since fleeing Bangladesh in 2024.
Despite facing multiple cases, Hasina said she remained determined to return to her country.
She asserted that "fear cannot decide my duty to the people" and said her return was driven by a commitment to the people of Bangladesh rather than political office.
Hasina said for the last two years, she watched her “beloved Bangladesh” suffer. “This is not the Bangladesh we built, this is not the Bangladesh for which 3 million people sacrificed their lives in 1971."
She alleged that the July-August 2024 unrest was not a spontaneous student movement but a carefully orchestrated campaign.
"Muhammad Yunus himself said this was a meticulously designed movement, led by a mastermind. His own words expose the truth. It was not simply a spontaneous student protest. There was no visible or responsible leadership; instructions were given invisibly; it was organised, directed and used to create a path to power outside ballot box," she said.
Hasina also defended her government's handling of the protests, saying it had attempted to resolve the situation through dialogue and legal means.
"From the beginning, my government tried to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue, legal process, and patience. But behind the language of reform, organised groups were working to turn students' demands into a violent political instrument," she said.
Emphasising her continued relationship with Bangladesh despite being in exile, Hasina said, "...I speak as someone who has spent her life with the people of Bangladesh and was forced away from my country, but I was never separated from my people."
Bangladesh is commemorating August 5 as the ‘July Mass Uprising Day’, with the government, political parties and socio-cultural organisations holding programmes to honour those, including students, who participated in the protests against what they described as Hasina's "misrule and autocracy", according to the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).
