Sheikh Hasina Wazed resigns as Bangladesh PM and flees to India

Sheikh Hasina Wazed, five five-time Bangladesh Prime Minister, resigned on 4 August 2024 and fled to India in a military helicopter after a month-long deadly student protest. The student protests against the job quota soon turned into an anti-government agitation, which has led to over 300 people, mainly civilians, dead in the country. 

Her resignation ended her uninterrupted 15-year rule in Bangladesh. She had been the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.

Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister helicopter landed at the Indian Air Forces Hindon air base in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met her at the Hindon air base.

Immediate cause of unrest in Bangladesh 

In June 2024, the High Court in Bangladesh, in a ruling, reinstated 30 per cent of government jobs for the descendants of those who participated in the country’s 1971 liberation movement. This meant that around 56 per cent of the government jobs in Bangladesh were reserved for various sections of society in Bangladesh. 

This immediately triggered protests in Bangladesh, and a movement started in Dhaka led by students. The protest soon turned into a movement against the Hasina government, and they started demanding the resignation of the government.

The protest continued against the government despite the Bangladesh Supreme Court in its 21 July judgement, struck down the High Court verdict on job quota.

The main opposition parties -Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-i-Islami supported the student movement demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina.

Economic problem in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh economy has performed very well in the last 15 years of Sheikh Hasina's tenure. During her tenure, the economy has grown at an average growth rate of  6.25 per cent annually.

The poverty ratio in Bangladesh has declined from 11.8 per cent in 2010 to 5 per cent in 2022. 

During her tenure the per capita income of Bangladesh crossed that of India.

However the Bangladeshi economy is mainly dependent on garment export and remittance from abroad. Due to Covid its garment export and remittance from abroad has declined. Also, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, fuel and food prices have increased in Bangladesh, leading to severe inflation in the country.

Due to worsening economic conditions, the Bangladesh government had to seek a $4.7 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund to address the country’s economic crisis.

According to the International Labour Organisation, about 67 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people are aged 15-64, and more than a quarter are aged 15 and 29.

The announcement of a 30 percent quota triggered widespread protests by university students demanding merit-based jobs in Bangladesh. 

Sheikh Hasina Rule in Bangladesh 

76-year-old Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of the Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. The first prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were killed in a military coup in 1975.

Sheikh Hasina and her surviving family members were given political asylum by the Indira  Gandhi government in 1975.

She came back to the country and led the pro-democracy movement that ousted the military ruler and then-President Hossain Mohammad Ershad from power in 1990.

Hasina became prime minister for a five-year term after her Awami League party won the elections in 1996. 

She came to power again in 2009. and remained in power till 5 August 2024.

Her party won the 2024 general election, which was boycotted by the major opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party, led by Begum Khaleda Zia.

Sheikh Hasina’s last 15 years in power have seen the arrest of opposition leaders, extra judicial killings, restriction on media and suppression of dissent.

The weak economy, high inflation and unemployment, and her autocratic governance style led to her downfall, and she had to leave the country.

Impact on India 

India—Bangladesh relations have always been good under Sheikh Hasina's rule. Under Sheikh Hasina's leadership, the 1996 treaty on sharing the Ganga River was signed between the two countries.

Various railroad and port connectivity projects were launched during her tenure, and defence ties were strengthened.

India’s relationship with the main opposition parties Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Begum Khaleda Zia, and the fundamentalist Islamic party Jamaat-i-Islami has never been good. Both these parties backed the student movement against the Sheikh Hasina government.

Begum Zia, who was jailed in a corruption case in 2018, was immediately released from jail by President Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu after Shaikh Hasina fled to India.

There is also a fear of an influx of refugees, especially Hindus from Bangladesh to India, as they fear atrocities from the Islamic fundamentalists in the country.

President of Bangladesh: Mohammad Shahabuddin Chuppu

Capital: Dhaka 

Currency: Taka