Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has intensified her criticism of Bangladesh’s interim administration, highlighting the growing uneasiness within the “Yunus gang”โa clique of unelected mobsters surrounding Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
In a series of recent interviews with international media outlets, including Reuters, AFP, The Week, and The Hindu, she came up amid a sharp rise in extremism across Bangladesh, with Islamist groups gaining unprecedented influence in the Jamaat-controlled government’s policies, alongside orchestrated anti-India hate campaigns by pro-Yunus factions on social media and public rallies.
Hasina’s outspokenness has reportedly sown discord among Yunus’ inner circle, with leaks suggesting internal rifts over fears of international backlash and eroding legitimacy.
In her latest emailed interview to PTI from an undisclosed location in India, Hasina reiterated that her return home hinges on the restoration of “participatory democracy”, lifting of the ban on the Awami League, and the conduct of free, fair, and inclusive elections. She also accused the unelected Yunus administration of “endangering ties with India and empowering extremist forces”, a charge that resonates deeply as pro-Yunus groups escalate their anti-India rhetoric, blaming New Delhi for allegedly propping up Hasina’s ousted regime.
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Contrasting her foreign policy with that of the current interim government, she said the โbroad and deepโ relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi should be able to withstand the “foolhardiness of the Yunus interlude”. Hasina thanked the Indian government for providing her refuge and said she was โimmensely grateful to India’s government and its people for their kind hospitalityโ.
โThe most important condition for my return to Bangladesh is the same condition that the Bangladeshi people require: a return to participatory democracy. The interim administration must rescind its ban on the Awami League and allow elections that are free, fair, and inclusive,” she told PTI.
Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, left the country on August 5, 2024, after weeks of violent anti-government protests. The massive agitation forced her resignation and eventual move to India, paving the way for the Yunus-led interim administration.
Asked whether her government mishandled the protests, the 78-year-old leader said: “Obviously, we lost control of the situation, and that was regrettable.
โThere are many lessons to be learned from these terrible incidents, but in my view, some of the responsibility is also on the so-called student leaders (actually seasoned political firebrands) who whipped up the crowds.”
Hasina also rejected reports that she had called for a boycott of the polls, scheduled for February next year, and insisted that any election excluding the Awami League would lack legitimacy.
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โTens of millions of people support us… That would be a huge missed opportunity for our country, which badly needs a government ruling with the people’s genuine consent. I hope this foolish ban will be rescinded… Whether in government or in opposition, the Awami League needs to be part of the political conversation in Bangladesh,” she said.
Asserting that India has โalways been Bangladesh’s most important international relationshipโ, Hasina accused the interim government under Yunus of jeopardising ties with New Delhi through what she called โfoolish and self-defeatingโ diplomatic misstepsโexacerbated by the surge in extremist activities, including attacks on Hindu minorities and the glorification of Jamaat-e-Islami figures in state-backed narratives.
โYunus’ hostility to India is foolish and self-defeating in the extreme and reveals him for the weak monarch he is, unelected, chaotic, and dependent upon the support of extremists,โ she alleged. โI hope he doesn’t make too many more diplomatic missteps before exiting the stage.โ
To Indians worried about the current hostile environment in Bangladesh, Hasina offered reassurance: โThe interim government doesn’t represent what our countrymen and women think. India is and will remain our nation’s most important friend.โ
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In a bold move underscoring her push for accountability, Hasina has recently penned letters and appeals to the United Nations, International Criminal Court (ICC), and International Court of Justice (ICJ), urging them to intervene for “genuine justice” against what she describes as politically motivated witch-hunts.
These appeals, submitted in October 2025, demand an independent probe into the violence of 2024 and safeguards for democratic processes, further amplifying the discomfort rippling through Yunus’s camp.
Hasina also said she was prepared to stand trial under international supervision โeven at the International Criminal Court,โ but alleged that Yunus has avoided such a process because an impartial tribunal would acquit her.
โI have repeatedly challenged Yunus’ government to prosecute me in the International Criminal Court, if it is so confident of its case. Yunus continues to duck this challenge because he knows that the ICC, a genuinely impartial tribunal, would certainly acquit me,โ she said.
Hasina dismissed Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), which has initiated proceedings against her and where the Jamaat-linked prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, as โa kangaroo tribunalโ controlled by her political opponents.
โThey are trying to neutralise both me and the Awami League as political forces. The fact that they would use the death penalty to suppress their opponents reveals how little respect they have for democracy or due process,โ she alleged.
According to Hasina, Yunus enjoyed โat least the passive support of some Western liberalsโ who wrongly thought he was one of them.
โNow that they have seen him place radicals into his cabinet, discriminate against minorities, and dismantle the constitution, hopefully they are withdrawing their support,โ she said.
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