Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has strongly criticized the head of the interim government, Mohammad Yunus. Taking aim at Yunus, he said that Yunus has failed to control the administration and has given free rein to Islamic groups associated with terrorist organizations to spread radical ideologies.

Awami League leader Hasina claimed in an article written in The Week magazine that extremist organizations like Hizb ut-Tahrir are spreading repression in the country. He said there has been a rise in attacks on religious minorities, women and tribal communities in the country, with many incidents reminiscent of the 2016 Holi Artisan Cafe attack.

targeted at Yunus

Sheikh Hasina said, “These are the same extremist forces that are responsible for incidents like the horrific and deadly attack on Holi Artisan Café in 2016 — the same groups we worked day and night to stop and eliminate.” Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India since the coup in the country in August 2024 last year, targeted Yunus’s interim government and said, true democracy is not possible under any head of state without public opinion (legitimacy obtained through voting).

The former Prime Minister claimed that crimes like murder, rape, robbery, arson and theft have become common in Bangladesh and the criminals are not facing any accountability.

“Hindu-Buddhist-Christian attacked”

Hasina said, “In the initial weeks of the Yunus administration’s rule, thousands of attacks on Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and tribal communities were reported. Even today, we hear reports every week of temples, houses and places of worship being destroyed without reason.”

He accused Yunus of banning the Awami League, denying voting rights to millions of people and imposing an unconstitutional charter aimed at legitimizing dictatorial rule.

In her article, Hasina said that Bangladesh, once known for religious unity and secular values, is now grappling with daily violence against religious minorities, women, girls and her party supporters.

Awami League banned

Hasina said, “True democracy is not possible as long as our country is ruled by a leader who does not have a mandate, who has banned the most popular political party, denied voting rights to crores of citizens and endangered our Constitution with an unconstitutional charter.”

Hasina alleged, “This charter does not represent the voice of the people of Bangladesh. It is just a political stunt aimed at legitimizing growing dictatorship in the name of reforms.” Criticizing Yunus’s governance style, Hasina said that he is not able to control his administration and his lack of governance experience is clearly visible to common Bangladeshis.

counted the successes of his reign

“The truth is that Yunus really has no control,” Hasina said. Referring to the achievements of her rule, Hasina said, “Our GDP increased from $47 billion to almost $600 billion, making Bangladesh among the 35 largest economies of the world. Much of the credit for this goes to the common Bangladeshi citizens, not the politicians.”

He further said, “Millions of people were lifted out of poverty, women became part of the workforce in large numbers, our foreign exchange reserves reached levels that no one could have imagined before.” Hasina said that Bangladesh should establish the tradition of truly participatory elections.