Following Hasina’s announcement of her planned address, protesters in the capital vandalize Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s home turned museum.
When former prime minister Sheikh Hasina gave a virtual speech from India, protest in Dhaka descended into violence, with attacks on the home turned museum of the South Asian nation’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Shortly after Hasina’s party publicized her planned speech on Wednesday, protesters, including members of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, vandalized and burned portions of the museum.
As thousands of people gathered near the house, some of them used sticks and hammers to break down the wall.
The Anti-discrimination Student Movement’s main coordinator, Hasnat Abdullah, wrote on Facebook, “Tonight, Bangladesh will be free from the pilgrimage site of fascism”.
As Hasina stated in her speech, “Demolishing a building can only destroy a structure; it cannot erase the history”.
“History can retaliate as we see in the past”, she continued, referring to the assailants as agents hostile to liberation.
Under Rehman’s leadership, Bangladesh separated from Pakistan in 1971. On August 5, 2024, Hasina escaped to India after the revolt claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people and injured over 22,000 more.
Mohammad Yunus, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, was named head of a transitional administration three days later.
The transitional arrangement, according to Hasina, is “illegal and unconstitutional”.
During the revolt against Hasina last year, hundreds of people died, and many of the demonstrators screamed slogans calling for her execution. It was among the worst upheavals the nation has experienced since gaining its independence. Hasina called for a UN probe into the fatalities.
They also screamed anti-Indian slurs.
“India needs to accept responsibility”
Nahid Islam, the adviser for information and broadcasting, stated that India “must take responsibility for allowing Hasina giving political directions in their shelters”.
“India has provided Sheikh Hasina a sanctuary, and they have a reason for this. This is a diplomatic issue, and we have requested that Indian return Hasina. However, the Indian government would be held accountable if Hasina attempts to conduct politics from there and hosts political gatherings in India”, Islam stated during a Dhaka event.
At an early-morning news conference in Dhaka, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and the Jatiya Nagorik (citizens) Committee announced their intention to form a new political party in order to effect a “shift” in the nation’s political landscape.
Hasnat Abdullah, a prominent organizer of the student movement, said, “The current political structure and political parties have failed to read the aspirations of the people in the country . . . they also failed to understand the youths and read their minds”.
To choose the party’s name and symbol, the leaders solicited feedback and support.
