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'Torture, sex assault': Sheikh Hasina's fiery first public address in India tears into Bangladesh govt | Top quotes
Sheikh Hasina urged Bangladeshis to oppose the interim govt led by Muhammad Yunus, alleging that it allows violence, lawlessness and attack on minorities.
In her first public address from India, exiled former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday called on citizens to rise up against the interim administration headed by Muhammad Yunus, saying that it is incapable of delivering free and fair elections.
Bangladesh's general election are scheduled for February 12, and Hasina party - the Awami League - has been barred from contesting.
In the address, delivered less than three weeks before Bangladesh's general election, Hasina also appealed for an end to violence and disorder in the country and demanded an "ironclad guarantee" to protect religious minorities, women, and vulnerable communities, HT reported earlier.
Hasina further urged the United Nations to carry out a "new and truly impartial investigation" into developments following the collapse of her government.
Sheikh Hasina's fiery address
The Awami League chief, who has been living in self-imposed exile in India since fleeing Bangladesh amid widespread student-led protests in August 2024, made the remarks through a pre-recorded audio message.
The recording was played at an event titled "Save democracy in Bangladesh" at the Foreign Correspondents Club. Her address came a day after election campaigning began in Bangladesh, an election from which the Awami League has been barred.
Here are some key quotes from Hasina's address:
-Labeling Yunus a "corrupt, power-hungry traitor" and accusing him of participating in a plot to remove her from office, Hasina declared:
-“In this grave hour, the entire nation must rise united and galvanised by the spirit of our great Liberation War.”
-"To overthrow the foreign-serving puppet regime of this national enemy at any cost, the brave sons and daughters of Bangladesh must defend and restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs, reclaim our independence, safeguard our sovereignty, and revive our democracy."
-Echoing themes from several recent speeches delivered to Awami League supporters abroad, Hasina recalled the party's role in the 1971 Liberation War and appealed to democratic, progressive, and non-communal forces to work toward a welfare-based democratic state while confronting what she described as the "treacherous designs of the murderous fascist and his collaborators".
-She raised five demands on behalf of the Awami League, including the restoring of democracy "by removing the illegal Yunus administration". Until that happens, she argued, Bangladesh would "never experience free and fair elections until the shadow of the Yunus clique is lifted from the people".
-Hasina also demanded an immediate halt to what she described as "daily acts of violence" and the prevailing lawlessness, saying stability was essential for economic recovery. There must an "ironclad guarantee ensuring the safety of religious minority groups, women and girls, and the most vulnerable in our society".
-She insisted that all "politically motivated acts of lawfare used to intimidate, silence and jail" journalists and members of the Awami League and opposition parties be stopped, and that confidence in the judiciary be restored.
-Calling for international involvement, Hasina said the UN should be asked to "conduct a new and truly impartial investigation into the events of the past year" to promote reconciliation and healing while "rejecting the selfish pursuit of vengeance".
-Hasina focused much of her criticism on Yunus, accusing him of failing to stop what she termed a "monstrous onslaught of extremist communal forces and foreign perpetrators". She said, "The murderous fascist Yunus, a usurer, a money launderer, a plunderer, and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor, has bled our nation dry with his all-consuming paradigms, staining the soul of our motherland."
-She alleged that Bangladesh had been "plunged into an age of terror" after "Yunus and his anti-state militant accomplices" removed her government through a "meticulously engineered conspiracy" in August 2024, though she offered no evidence to support the claim.
-"Democracy is now in exile. Human rights have been trampled into the dust. Freedom of the press has been extinguished. Violence, torture, and sexual assault against women and girls remain unchecked," she said. "Religious minorities face continuous persecution. Law and order have collapsed."
Her speech was widely viewed as an attempt to keep the Awami League politically relevant as the upcoming election is expected to be dominated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami also projected to gain ground.
Although the Awami League retains significant grassroots support, many of its senior leaders are currently in exile in India and Europe.
Bangladesh plunged into unrest again, late last year with reasons directly or indirectly related to Sheikh Hasina's exile in India.
