July 2024 was not a peaceful student movement: Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina

New Delhi – Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has broken her silence on the turmoil that led to her ouster, asserting that the widespread protests in July and August 2024 were not a spontaneous student movement but a calculated effort to destabilize her government.

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It was not a peaceful student movement. From the beginning, my government tried to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue, legal process, and patience. But behind the language of reform, organized groups were working to turn students demand into violent political instrument.

Speaking via virtual media interaction from New Delhi, Hasina stated, "It was not a peaceful student movement. From the beginning, my government tried to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue, legal process, and patience. But behind the language of reform, organized groups were working to turn students demand into violent political instrument."

Hasina, who fled to India on August 5 after her 15-year tenure ended amid nationwide anti-government demonstrations, detailed her government's efforts to address the quota reform agitation through negotiation. She claims that "organized groups" exploited the situation, escalating demands to a call for her resignation and spreading "false propaganda."

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The quota reform movement was turned into a one-point demand for my resignation. False propaganda was spread in a planned way. Genuine students were emotionally manipulated, while organised groups used their movement as cover for violence and regime change.

She further alleged that the protests devolved into violence, including killings, arson, and attacks on public infrastructure and law enforcement. Hasina also accused the interim administration, led by Muhammad Yunus, of halting a judicial inquiry into the violence and systematically persecuting members of her Awami League party. She claimed thousands were killed, disappeared, or arrested, with many more implicated in criminal cases.

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For the last two years, I watched my beloved Bangladesh suffer...This is not the Bangladesh we built, this is not the Bangladesh for which 3 million people sacrificed their lives in 1971.