In a resounding affirmation of democratic principles and unshakeable resolve, Bangladesh’s iconic former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a clarion call from her secure exile in New Delhi, demanding free, fair, and inclusive national elections with the full participation of her Awami League party.
In exclusive emailed responses to Reuters—her first major media engagement since her forced ouster in August 2024—Sheikh Hasina, 78, warned that barring the Awami League would trigger a mass boycott by millions of loyal supporters, rendering any February 2026 polls illegitimate and self-defeating.
“The ban on the Awami League is not only unjust, it is self-defeating,” Sheikh Hasina declared with her trademark forthrightness. “The next government must have electoral legitimacy. Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote. You cannot disenfranchise millions of people if you want a political system that works.”
With over 126 million registered voters in Bangladesh, the Awami League—long a pillar of the nation’s politics alongside the BNP—represents the will of the masses. Hasina reiterated her hope that “common sense will prevail and we will be allowed to contest the election ourselves,” refusing to urge supporters to back rival parties.
This bold stance aligns seamlessly with her recent virtual meetings with dedicated Awami League workers, as extensively covered in The Daily Republic. In those impassioned addresses, Hasina rallied party members to stand firm against the unelected interim regime’s oppression, emphasising that only elections inclusive of the Awami League can heal the nation and restore constitutional rule.
“Only free, fair, and inclusive elections can heal the country,” she echoed in her Reuters responses, vowing the party’s eventual return to shape Bangladesh’s future—whether in government or opposition—without it being defined by any single family, including her own.
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Sheikh Hasina’s justified decision to remain in India stems from grave security threats under the Yunus-led interim government, which has devolved into a jihadist-backed mobocracy. Having fled on 5 August 2024 to safeguard her life and those around her amid targeted violence against Awami League workers, she stated unequivocally: “I would not return to Bangladesh under any government formed after elections that exclude her party.”
Living freely yet cautiously in Delhi—where a Reuters reporter recently spotted her strolling peacefully in Lodhi Garden with security—she draws from her family’s tragic history: the 1975 military coup that assassinated her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and three brothers. “I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed,” she affirmed.
Dismantling the baseless allegations fueling the ban, Hasina labelled the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) proceedings as a “politically motivated charade” and “kangaroo courts” with “guilty verdicts a foregone conclusion.” Facing sham charges of crimes against humanity over the 2024 protests—including inflated UN-cited death tolls of up to 1,400 and accusations of enforced disappearances—she denied any personal involvement in lethal force or abuses.
As she bravely asserted in her virtual party meetings and prior statements to The Independent, the violence arose from on-ground breakdowns in security discipline during a “violent insurrection,” not her directives. Her government acted in good faith to minimise losses and even initiated an independent inquiry—swiftly shut down by Yunus’s administration.
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The Yunus regime’s actions—suspending the Awami League’s registration in May, banning all party activities under pretexts of “national security” and war crimes probes, and excluding it from polls—expose a vindictive agenda to sideline Hasina’s legacy of economic transformation, poverty alleviation, and restoring parliamentary democracy after military rule.
Yet, at 78, she remains a beacon of bravery, outspoken against propaganda and lies, refusing indemnity or apology for upholding constitutional duties against anarchy.
Bangladesh teeters under mobocracy, with recent clashes during state reform charter signings underscoring the chaos. Hasina’s demand for the Awami League’s participation is not just party advocacy—it is a fight for the nation’s soul. As she proclaimed in her worker meetings, true leaders rise above adversity. The people deserve her vision; anything less is a betrayal of democracy.
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