The rise and fall of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‘Iron Lady’

The rise and fall of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‘Iron Lady’

Subject: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

Sheikh Hasina was born in 1947 in what was then East Pakistan to Begum Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — the founding father of Bangladesh and the country’s first president. Hasina, who took power in Bangladesh since 2008, was in January re-elected for her fourth straight term.

Sheikh Hasina:

• Sheikh Hasina has fled Bangladesh.
• The Bangladesh Army chief Waker Uz Zaman has confirmed that Hasina has resigned as prime minister and left the country.
• Zaman said an interim government is being formed and asked for the public to cooperate peacefully.
• Early years and political plunge
• Hasina was born in 1947 in what was then East Pakistan.
• Her parents were Begum Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, played a crucial role in securing the country’s independence from Pakistan and served as the country’s first president.
• Hasina was the oldest of five children.
• She studied at Dhaka University and graduated with a degree in Bengali literature.
• In 1975, tragedy struck, Hasina’s father, mother and three brothers – as well as a number of her relatives – were murdered in a coup.
• Hasina, 27, only survived because she was travelling abroad with her sister Sheikh Rehana.
• She then went into exile in India – where she lived for half a dozen years.
• In 1981, Hasina finally returned to Bangladesh to take the reins of her father’s Awami League party.
• Hasina’s tenure as Awami League party president kicked off a decade-long struggle that saw her subjected to lengthy stretches of house arrest.
• Hasina then surprised many by joining hands with Khaleda Zia – the widow of former army chief and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman – and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to oust Ershad.
• By 1990, lakhs of people had taken to the streets of Dhaka to demand Ershad’s resignation.
• hough Ershad tried to cling to power by declared an emergency, he was forced to resign on December 4.
• However, the pact between Hasina and Zia wouldn’t last.
• By 1991, the BNP had taken power and Hasina had become the main opposition leader.
• It was a 1991 cyclone which slammed into Bangladesh and left 140,000 people dead that would give Hasina’s career a new dimension.
• Five years later, in 1996, Hasina would be sworn-in as prime minister of Bangladesh.
• Hasina’s first term saw Bangladesh make major strides in economic liberalisation, increased foreign investment and increasing living standards including improvements in healthcare and education.
• Bangladesh also became a major power in the global garment industry.
• However, despite these achievements, Hasina was voted out of office in favour of Zia in 2001.
• In 2004, Hasina narrowly survived an assassination attempt after a grenade exploded at a rally.
• In 2007, both Hasina and Zia were imprisoned on corruption charges in 2007 after a coup by the military.
• However, the charges were ultimately dropped – leaving them free to contest the next election.
• Hasina won in a landslide in 2008 and had held on to power ever since.
• Hasina has been praised by supporters for leading Bangladesh through a remarkable economic boom, largely on the back of the mostly female factory workforce powering its garment export industry.
• Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries when it gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, has grown an average of more than six percent each year since 2009.

The Fall:

• But her government’s intolerance towards dissent has given rise to resentment at home and expressions of concern from Washington and elsewhere.
• Soon after coming to power in 2009, Hasina set up a tribunal to try 1971 war crimes cases. The tribunal convicted some high-profile members of the opposition, sparking violent protests.
• Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party and a key ally of BNP, was banned from participating in elections in 2013. BNP chief Khaleda Zia was sentenced to 17 years in prison on corruption charges.
• The BNP boycotted the 2014 elections but joined the one in 2018, which party leaders later said was a mistake, alleging that the voting was marred with widespread rigging and intimidation.
• Five top Islamist leaders and a senior opposition figure were executed over the past decade after convictions for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s brutal 1971 liberation war.
• Instead of healing the wounds of that conflict, the trials triggered mass protests and deadly clashes.
• Hasina had also been branded a dictator by her critics.
• Some had labelled her regime ‘Baskal 2.0’ – after her father Mujibur Rahman’s one-party state in 1975.
• “Democracy has a different definition that varies country to country,” Hasina said ahead of the polls.In January, Hasina was elected for a record fourth straight term.
• In the 2024 elections, the BNP and its allies boycotted the votes, demanding polls under a non-party caretaker government. They alleged that Hasina cannot deliver credible voting.
• The polls were fought by 27 political parties, including the parliamentary opposition Jatiya Party. The rest were members of the ruling Awami League-led coalition, which experts dubbed as the “satellite parties.”
• The BNP’s boycott, however, raised questions about the credibility of the polls, which registered a low turnout.
• And then everything went wrong.
• Six months after the elections, a massive protest erupted against her government over a controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.
• Over 300 protesters were killed in violence during the protests that led to her dramatic ouster.