On the first anniversary of the mass uprising that ousted her from power, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered a defiant message to the nation, declaring that she is still the legitimate Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In a strongly worded statement released ahead of her scheduled address on the Awami League’s official Facebook page at 9:30 pm on Tuesday, Hasina claimed she never resigned and was forcibly removed from office.
“I did not resign. I was forced to leave power,” Hasina asserted, reigniting political tensions on a day the interim government is celebrating as a turning point in the nation’s democratic journey.
On August 5 last year, Hasina departed Dhaka by helicopter and went into exile in India.
While the streets of Dhaka and other major cities buzzed with cultural programmes marking the anniversary of the 2024 uprising, the Awami League has opted for a sombre commemoration. The party is observing August 5 as ‘democracy and student-public-police killing day’, remembering those who lost their lives in the violent upheaval that led to the toppling of Hasina’s administration.
Hasina’s statement comes as a counterpoint to the pageantry of the current administration under interim government’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus. Earlier in the day, Yunus addressed a large public rally near the Parliament Building, where he read out the July Declaration — the key political document of the 2024 revolution, soon to be enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh.
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But Hasina has refused to accept the political transition as legitimate. In her message commemorating August as the Month of Mourning — a tradition historically observed in memory of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, assassinated on August 15, 1975 — she reminded the public that the Yunus government has entirely abandoned this national observance.
"The current government may have chosen to forget August, but we have not," she said, adding that her refusal to resign and continued claim to legitimacy are rooted in constitutional principle.
The interim government, meanwhile, is pushing forward with its plans to institutionalise the events of 2024. The July National Charter, drafted by the Bangladesh Consensus Commission, will accompany the Declaration in the constitutional amendment package. The 2024 uprising, if accepted, will be the first political event formally recognised in the Constitution of Bangladesh since Hasina’s ouster.
Political analysts argue that the move is aimed not only at preserving the legacy of the uprising but also at legally marginalising the Awami League. The proposed constitutional amendment could make it harder for the party to regain a foothold in national politics.
Despite significant support from many anti-Awami parties, including factions of the National Citizen Party, dissent is quietly brewing. Multiple sources suggest that leaders within the BNP and other groups have expressed hesitation about constitutionally enshrining the fall of a democratically elected government— regardless of the uprising’s scale.
“Hasina’s re-entry into the national conversation on this symbolic day signals her intent to stay politically relevant. Her message, laced with conviction and nostalgia, casts a long shadow over the festivities, reminding the nation that its political identity remains deeply contested,” said a senior Awami League leader.
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