Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday launched a broadside against Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, billing him a "murderous fascist,…plunderer,… power-hungry traitor" and calling for his removal to restore democracy in the country.
In a recorded message aired at a discussion on "Save Democracy in Bangladesh" organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club here, Hasina said free and fair elections cannot be held in Bangladesh with Yunus at the helm of affairs.
Only after his removal can the country start the process of "bringing power back to the people" that also involved the Awami League. Currently, her party is banned by the Yunus administration and cannot participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for February 12.
Speaking just three weeks ahead of the national elections in Bangladesh, Hasina also called for an end to the daily acts of violence and underscored the need to deliver an "iron-clad guarantee ensuring the safety of religious minority groups, women and girls".
Urging people back home not to give up the fight for democracy, the former premier began her speech by saying: "Bangladesh stands at the edge of an abyss, a nation battered and bleeding, navigating one of the most perilous chapters in its history. The homeland won through the supreme Liberation War… is now ravaged by the monstrous onslaught of extremist communal forces and foreign perpetrators. Our once serene and fertile land has been reduced to a wounded, blood-soaked landscape. In truth, the entire country has become a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death."
Hasina also dwelt on the turn of events of August 5, 2024, when she fled Dhaka in the face of a student uprising against her government and took refuge in India. According to her, the entire operation to remove her was a "meticulously engineered conspiracy" by the "murderous fascist Yunus and his anti-state militant accomplices". She billed his administration a "foreign-serving puppet regime", asserting that the Awami League is independent Bangladesh's oldest and most important political party that is committed to the Constitution, political and religious pluralism.
Hasina's speech is bound to upset the interim administration, which had previously red-flagged the interviews she had given to the Indian media and her articles that were published. Bangladesh had objected to Hasina’s media access through diplomatic channels, summoning India’s deputy high commissioner.