Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen said on Sunday that while she did not follow the student protest at Jantar Mantar, a small clip of it reminded her of the 2024 student uprising in Bangladesh that led to the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
She said that the 2024 Bangladesh protests “fooled” people because it looked like the students were protesting against the quota system, it was later found out that “jihadis (Islamic fundamentalists)” were behind it.
"It was like that. That student movement in Bangladesh fooled us. Because we thought the students wanted to abolish the quota system. Sheikh Hasina had also agreed to their demands, but ultimately the government fell. Later, we found that jihadis (Islamic fundamentalists) were behind that movement. The fallout has not been good for Bangladesh. Jihadis have taken over power there," Nasreen was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
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She added that she was concerned about such movements due to what happened in Bangladesh after the 2024 student protest.
‘Want Hasina to return to Bangladesh’
{{/usCountry}}She added that she was concerned about such movements due to what happened in Bangladesh after the 2024 student protest.
‘Want Hasina to return to Bangladesh’
{{/usCountry}}Nasreen also backed ousted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in living in exile in India, and said that she was against the ban on her party Awami League back in their home country.
"No political party should be banned. The manner in which Awami League's Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country is questionable. It was not right to ban the Awami League. It was a move against democracy," she said.
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“I want the ban to be lifted as soon as possible. The party should be allowed to participate in the elections, and I want Hasina to return to Bangladesh,” she added.
Awami League was banned in Bangladesh in 2025 by the country's interim government under anti-terrorism legislation. The author also said that workers of Hasina's party have faced violence in Bangladesh since then.
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Nasreen herself was forced to leave Bangladesh in 1994 after she faced death threats from radical religious groups over her writings and religious views. She has been living in exile in India since 2004.
In 2007, she was forced to leave Kolkata as well due to violent protests over her writings.
On Friday, she came back to Kolkata after almost two decades of being forced out of the city. “I can’t believe that I am in Kolkata now. I was driven out in 2007. Initially I had thought that I will be able to return. Kolkata is a progressive city. But as years passed, I had a feeling that I may never be able to return. But then Osman Gani Mallik of Secular Mission invited me to Kolkata. He made all the arrangements,” she said after returning in an interview to a television channel.
(With inputs from PTI)