Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin says he wants to step down months before his term ends, revealing a tense and isolated relationship with the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
In an interview with Reuters, Shahabuddin said he intends to resign after February’s parliamentary election, describing the last few months as a period marked by disregard and humiliation.
Shahabuddin, 75, holds a largely ceremonial role, with executive authority resting with the prime minister and cabinet.
But his office became central to Bangladesh’s political transition when a student-led uprising forced long-time premier Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in August 2024.
With parliament dissolved, Shahabuddin became the only surviving constitutional authority in a turbulent moment.
Installed in 2023 as an unopposed nominee of Hasina’s Awami League, Shahabuddin said the conditions under the interim administration have pushed him to consider leaving early.
“I am keen to leave. I am interested to go out,” he said in a WhatsApp interview from his official residence in Dhaka. Still, he stressed the need to remain at least until the election.
“Until elections are held, I should continue,” he said. “I am upholding my position because of the constitutionally held presidency.”
The president described months of what he interprets as deliberate sidelining. According to him, Yunus has not met him for nearly seven months. His press department, he said, was removed.
And in September, portraits of the president were taken down from Bangladeshi missions abroad.
“There was the portrait of the president, picture of the president in all consulates, embassies and high commissions, and this has been eliminated suddenly in one night,” he said. “A wrong message goes to the people that perhaps the president is going to be eliminated. I felt very much humiliated.”
Shahabuddin said he wrote to Yunus about the removal of portraits but received no response. Yunus’ press advisers did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
