Unapologetic Hasina Names Selim to Lead the Awami League in Her Absence

Sheikh Hasina has settled one of the biggest questions surrounding the Awami League by naming Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim to lead the party in her absence. The move ends much of the speculation over who could guide a party whose activities remain banned and which became a political pariah after its disastrous collapse in 2024.

In interviews with The Hindu, Deutsche Welle, Hindustan Times and the Kolkata-based outlet The Wall, Hasina explained that Selim was the senior-most member of the party’s presidium. She also ruled out the idea that her sister, Sheikh Rehana, might take over. Although Rehana had been considered a strong contender, Hasina said she had never really been involved in politics.

The former prime minister’s recent comments also suggest a shift in her approach to returning to Bangladesh. She told interviewers that she feared being assassinated at the airport if she came back. She also expressed concern for party members, saying she could not urge them to return when they might face physical harm. That is a more cautious position than her earlier insistence that she would return home come what may.

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Am I that powerful?

Hasina said she had believed she was traveling to her village in Tungipara, Gopalganj, on August 5, 2024, and only later learned that she would fly to India. Asked whether she had met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi or former Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, she avoided the question and said she had not even tried.

She strongly rejected the suggestion that her August 5 press conference, held on the second anniversary of her flight from Dhaka, had damaged relations between Dhaka and New Delhi. “Am I that powerful?” she asked, arguing that she had not asked Britain to shut down BNP activities run from London. Yet her anger over India’s alleged support for Bangladesh’s national election and its role in bringing Tarique Rahman to power, as described in the analysis, exposes how much authority she attributes to India in Bangladesh’s affairs. The analysis says that this view points to her dependence on the Indian establishment for any future political role in Bangladesh.

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will go home come what may