Return of Sheikh Hasina: Will history repeat itself?

By Professor Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen In the 1960s, Pakistan’s President General Ayub Khan and his loyal East Pakistan Governor Monem Khan launched a vigorous campaign to ban Rabindra Sangeet. The move sparked widespread protests across what was then East Pakistan. Many university students in Dhaka, who had never sung Rabindra songs before—including myself—enrolled in Chhayanaut as a symbol of resistance. Today, witnessing the destruction inflicted on Chhayanaut fills me with profound sorrow.

Have the ghosts of Ayub and Monem Khan returned to haunt us once again? It feels as though the Bengali struggle has not yet ended, and we remain entangled in petty squabbles over trivial matters—still trapped in the same vicious circle, unable to break free from our historical orbit.

At one point, Monem Khan asked Dhaka University’s Bengali Department head, Professor Abdul Hai, to compose Rabindra-style songs. Professor Hai responded sharply, reportedly leaving the governor embarrassed. When attacks on the Bengali language intensified, Dhaka University students played a vocal and courageous role. Nearly sixty years later, as assaults on the Bengali language, music, and culture resume, the words of the wise ring truer than ever: “History repeats itself.” Are we witnessing the painful recurrence of that very history?

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It is worth recalling that in 1971, inside a Pakistani prison, the leader of Pakistan’s largest elected party, Awami League—Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—was tried and sentenced to death. A grave was dug right beside his cell. Yet fate cannot be defied.

Just before his execution, Bangabandhu was taken from his cell—not to the gallows, but to a secure house for protection. There, Pakistan’s new President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met him. Bhutto addressed him as “President” and informed him that, as the architect of independent Bangladesh, he was free to return to his beloved homeland. He was released.

A man condemned to death walked out of captivity and returned home as the Father of the Nation, welcomed by millions in an outpouring of love. Upon his return, he took up the sacred mission of rebuilding war-ravaged Bangladesh into Sonar Bangla—the golden Bengal.

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Recently, Bangladesh’s illegitimate and unconstitutional interim government under Muhammad Yunus has sentenced the country’s elected Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death in fabricated cases—mirroring the fate once imposed on Bangabandhu by Pakistan.

The Yunus regime’s misdeeds—corruption, looting, injustice, mockery of justice, and blatant misgovernance—have left the people deeply dissatisfied and angry. At the same time, public support for the ousted Sheikh Hasina government is surging dramatically. Today, her popularity in Bangladesh is sky-high, nearing 75% according to credible assessments. Experts believe that in any free, fair, and transparent election, Sheikh Hasina’s party would secure a landslide victory by a massive margin.

The question now arises: Will she, like Bangabandhu, return triumphantly to her homeland to revive a shattered economy? Will history repeat itself?

The parallels are striking. A democratically elected leader, overthrown through unconstitutional means, condemned to death on baseless charges, yet growing in public affection while the usurpers lose legitimacy. The people’s yearning for justice, stability, and competent governance is once again turning toward the very leader they once entrusted with their destiny.

Bangladesh stands at a historic juncture. The current regime’s failures have only strengthened the call for a return to inclusive, participatory democracy. If the people’s will prevails, Sheikh Hasina’s homecoming may not be a matter of “if” but “when.” And when that moment arrives, history may indeed prove its timeless truth: it repeats itself—not as tragedy, but as redemption.

Professor Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen: Freedom fighter, distinguished academic, former Foreign Minister.