Hasina Wajed’s ouster as prime minister of Bangladesh and self-exile to India has prompted discussion on the failings of her 15 years of uninterrupted power—a key reason for the student-led protests that paralyzed the country for weeks.
Reportedly, Hasina resisted her ouster until the last minute, vowing to fight on after the Bangladesh Army chief informed her the armed forces would not implement her lockdown orders. Sensing the shifting tide, Hasina’s son convinced her to step down, following which she and her sister flew to India, where she remains. The dramatic occurrences recalls that 1975 coup that saw Bangladesh’s military assassinate Hasina’s father, founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as well as most of her family. The sole survivors were Hasina and her sister, who were in India at the time. In 1981, she returned to a country under military rule as the newly elected leader of the Awami League, advocating for the restoration of democracy while condemning the military’s excesses.
In November 1990, she helped draft a multiparty declaration calling on then-military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad to resign. Following his exit a month later, the Awami League lost the 1991 elections to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), intensifying a growing rivalry between the rival parties that persists to this day. The rivalry has its own history, as BNP chief Khaleda Zia is the widow of Ziaur Rahman, a military officer involved in the 1975 coup that ascended to the presidency in 1977 before his assassination in 1981. After several years of back-and-forth governance, Hasina won the 2008 election, taking office in January 2009, with her rule only ending this year. In that time, her party victimized its political opposition and used heavy-handed tactics to suppress criticism of the government.
While Hasina was re-elected twice after her 2008 win, independent observers alleged massive rigging. This was papered over by economic successes, including women’s empowerment. However, despite this, the overall status of women in Bangladesh remains troubling, with the country reporting one of the world’s highest child marriage rates. Hasina also drew criticism from human rights groups for her unchecked crackdowns on alleged extremists. Ultimately, Hasina’s mission to implement her father’s democratic vision was eclipsed by something very different: a vow, borne out of her tragic past, to become the strongest leader of the country and to protect herself from all perceived threats. She amassed immense power, which inevitably produces autocratic tendencies and brutality, which ultimately lost her the popular support she had relied on in the past.