Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently in India, on Friday launched a scathing attack on the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, calling it a “murderous, fascist clique” and urging its removal to restore democracy, law, and order in Bangladesh.
Speaking via audio link at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi, Hasina described her status as “democracy in exile” and said the nation had descended into “murderous anarchy” since her ouster in August 2024. The briefing was attended by senior diplomats and former ministers of her Awami League cabinet, including ex-Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud and former Education Minister Mohibul Chowdhury Nowfel.
Hasina accused Yunus of ignoring his people and asserted that free and fair elections were impossible under his “illegal government.” She outlined immediate steps to stabilise the country: remove the Yunus administration, halt daily violence, safeguard religious minorities, women, and vulnerable communities, end politically motivated legal intimidation of journalists and opposition members, and invite the United Nations to conduct an impartial investigation into last year’s events.
She said, “The homeland won through the supreme Liberation War… is now ravaged by extremist communal forces and foreign perpetrators.” Hasina called Yunus “a usurer, a money launderer, a plunderer, and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor,” urging citizens to “overthrow the foreign-serving puppet regime at any cost.”
Bangladesh is set to hold parliamentary elections on February 12, but the Awami League remains banned, following deregistration by the Election Commission in May 2025. India has provided refuge to Hasina while emphasising her remarks are personal, though the briefing is expected to strain India-Dhaka relations.
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