Sheikh Hasina Says 2024 Bangladesh Protest Was ‘Not a Peaceful Student Movement’
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By NIRENDRA DEV
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, addressing a virtual media conference from New Delhi, claims the 2024 unrest was orchestrated to overthrow her government and accuses the interim administration of political repression, economic decline and targeting minorities.
New Delhi, August 5, 2026 — Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asserted that the 2024 unrest in Bangladesh was “not a peaceful student movement” but a politically orchestrated campaign aimed at overthrowing her government, while accusing the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus of widespread repression and undermining the country’s democratic institutions.
Addressing a virtual media conference from New Delhi, Hasina said, “Political prisoners must be released.”
Describing India as a longstanding ally, she said, “India always has been a great friend, and I know they will remain that.” At the same time, she added that “government-to-government relations are different,” stressing that “people’s support is important for me.”
Hasina said she remained committed to returning to Bangladesh despite living in exile.
“I will return to my people. I am not worried about my own future,” she said.
“I speak as someone who has spent her life with the people of Bangladesh and was forced away from my country, but I was never separated from my people,” she added.
The former prime minister alleged that minority community members, judges, cultural figures and even rickshaw pullers were being targeted in Bangladesh.
“Everyone who stands for the Liberation War is being attacked,” she said, alleging that convicted militants had also been released.
Reflecting on developments since her removal from office, Hasina said, “For the last two years, I watched my beloved Bangladesh suffer. This is not the Bangladesh we built. This is not the Bangladesh for which three million people sacrificed their lives in 1971.”
She rejected the characterisation of the 2024 protests as a peaceful student-led movement.
“Let me begin with the truth about July and August 2024. It was not a peaceful student movement. From the beginning, my government tried to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue, legal process and patience,” Hasina added.
She alleged that “behind the language of reform, organised groups were working to turn students’ demands into a violent political instrument.”
Also joining her on the occasion was her son Sajeeb Wazwd Joy, who said: “India has been treating his mom, Sheikh Hasina, like “head of a state”. Joy also stated – “Bangladesh today is not a failing state. It is a failed state. There is no human right.
“What should concern India most is that Bangladesh has become another Pakistan. You have another Pakistan on your eastern front. … especially ISI has an open hand.
Hasina further claimed that the Yunus-led interim government’s decision to grant indemnity to those accused of killing police personnel exposed its “true motive.”
She said her government had initiated an investigation into the violence but alleged that it was halted after her removal from office.
“If they weren’t afraid, why did they not allow the truth to come out?” she asked.
Hasina also alleged that thousands of Awami League leaders, workers and supporters, along with police personnel, journalists, lawyers, judges and members of minority communities, had faced arrests, torture and violence since her ouster.
According to her, the 2024 movement evolved into “a coordinated assault on the Constitution,’ and she accused the current dispensation of suppressing dissent while targeting those associated with Bangladesh’s Liberation War legacy.
She also claimed that Bangladesh’s economy had deteriorated sharply since her removal from office, alleging slower GDP growth, contraction in industrial production for the first time in decades, rising bank defaults, increasing poverty and weakening investment.
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