In an exclusive interview with the New Indian Express, Awami League President and former five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has demolished the absurd corruption claim with economic logic, saying that $234 billion is larger than Bangladeshโs total annual GDP, making the charge not only false but also mathematically impossible.
She refuted the claim, stating that the same period saw Bangladeshโs fastest-ever growthโa fact backed by the IMF and other international organisations.
Sheikh Hasina made it clear that, given an opportunity, her party, Awami League, will surely participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country. For the first time, she accepts “leadership responsibility” for the killing of “thousands of citizens” during the mass protest against her government from July 15 to August 5, 2024.
Speaking from exile in India, where she fled following the violent uprising that toppled her government last year, Hasina addressed a range of contentious issues in the wide-ranging conversation with The New Indian Express. Her remarks come amid escalating political friction in Bangladesh, where the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has barred the Awami League from contesting next year’s general elections.
The Indian Express published this interview on November 7โthe day when Hindustan Times published another report based on Sheikh Hasinaโs emailed response. On October 29, three international newspapers published separate interviews for the first time since the changeover, creating tension in the Yunus-led interim government and inspiring the party leaders and activists.
Interview With AFP: Sheikh Hasina blames foreign conspiracy for ouster
Interview With Reuters: Sheikh Hasina champions fair, inclusive elections
Interview With The Independent: Sheikh Hasina stands tall, debunks propaganda
Meanwhile, in an interview with The WEEK, Sheikh Hasina accused the Yunus regime of silencing dissent and betraying democracyโwhile reflecting on her legacy, her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanโs vision, and Bangladeshโs uncertain future.
Defending Electoral Participation Amid Ban
Hasina categorically rejected the interim government’s decision to prohibit her party from the polls, calling it “deeply undemocratic and a clear violation of Bangladesh’s constitution and of the fundamental rights of the electorate.” She emphasised that the ban “short-changes millions of people,” noting historical precedents where voter turnout plummeted when major parties boycotted elections.
“Our priority is to continue fighting for the rights of our voters,” Hasina said. She clarified that the Awami League is “not refusing to contest elections. On the contrary, we ardently wish to participate. But we have been banned from doing so by an administration that is itself unelected and which clearly has no respect for democracy.”
The former prime minister warned that excluding her party would perpetuate a “cycle of parties either boycotting elections or being banned,” undermining governmental legitimacy. “Bangladesh badly needs to hold a free, fair and inclusive election, so that the country can begin to heal and move towards reconciliation,” she added. “You cannot achieve this by banning the Awami League. We are woven into the country’s modern history and independence, and tens of millions support us.”
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Hasina urged breaking this pattern of non-participation, which she acknowledged had damaged past elections, including those under her tenure. She highlighted Awami League’s electoral recordโnine victories through direct votesโand contrasted it with the interim government’s lack of public mandate. Reforms introduced by her administration, such as photo-based voter lists, transparent ballot boxes, and an independent Election Commission, were cited as steps toward fairer polls.
Dismissing opposition claims of rigging in the 2024 elections, which international observers deemed free and fair, Hasina pointed to US and UN recommendations for inclusive voting. “Bangladesh’s chances of forming a government that is legitimate and enjoys the genuine consent of the people are severely compromised if this ban on the Awami League is maintained,” she asserted.
Responsibility for 2024 Uprising Violence
In a poignant admission, Hasina took “leadership responsibility” as the nation’s leader for the deaths during the July-August 2024 protests, which a Human Rights Watch report estimated at around 1,400 killed and thousands injured, mostly by security forces. “I mourn each and every life lost in the tragic violence of last summer’s uprising,” she said. However, she firmly denied ordering or directing the forces’ actions, insisting they were taken “in good faith and with the sole intention of minimising the loss of life or the further breakdown in law and order.”
Challenging the UN-backed fatality figures as inflated and based on “undocumented and closely controlled evidence supplied…by the interim government,” Hasina noted discrepancies with the Ministry of Health’s calculations. She accused Dhaka of withholding a definitive death list after 15 months, using the numbers for “propaganda purposes.” The toll, she implied, may include security personnel and Awami League affiliates killed in the riots.
Dismantling Corruption Allegations
The interview’s sharpest exchanges centred on graft charges levelled by the Yunus administration and the Anti-Corruption Commission, including a Financial Times report alleging $234 billion plundered during her 15-year rule, with ties to figures like former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and S Alam Group chair Mohammed Saiful Alam. Hasina, now facing a court trial alongside her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and daughter Saima Wazed Putul over land allocations, branded the claims “completely unevidenced” and driven by “prosecutors who are controlled by my political opponents.”
The $234 billion figure drew her strongest rebuke: “That sum far exceeds Bangladesh’s entire state budget. In practical terms, such an enormous theft isn’t even possible. If it had happened, our economy would have collapsed.” Instead, she touted a 450% economic expansion under her leadership, a “verified fact, endorsed by the IMF and other international organisations.” Hasina accused her accusers of favouring “wild allegations over facts.”
On the contrary, Hasina questioned Yunus’s personal wealth accumulation, which began with a modest Tk6,000 salary at Grameen Bank in 1990 and has since expanded to include 4,080 kathas of land in Purbachal for a resort, 300 kathas in Uttara, and Tk5,000 crore in fixed deposits. “How, then, did he amass such vast wealth?” she asked, urging media scrutiny beyond Yunus’s “famous friends like the Clintons.”
While acknowledging corruption’s existence, Hasina maintained no evidence linked her family or associates to state-sanctioned graft. “I’m not denying that corruption exists, but nobody has been able to show that my family and associates benefitted personally from state resources,” she said.
Hasina’s forthright responses mark a rare public engagement since her ouster, signalling a renewed push for her party’s political rehabilitation. As Bangladesh navigates its fragile transition, her words underscore the deep divisions threatening the nation’s democratic path forward.
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