Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said Sheikh’s allowing Hasina to make the speech set “a dangerous precedent” that could “seriously impair bilateral relations”. Bangladesh said on Sunday it was “surprised” and “shocked” that India had allowed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to make a public address in New Delhi. 78-year-old Sheikh Hasina has been in India since August 2024, following a student-led protest that ended her 15-year rule. She made her first public speech since then in an audio address to a packed press club in Delhi on Friday.
She was found guilty in absentia by a Dhaka court in November of incitement, issuing an order to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities and was sentenced to be hanged. “The government and the people of Bangladesh are surprised and shocked. Allowing the event to take place in the Indian capital and letting mass murderer Hasina openly deliver her hate speech… constitute a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh,” Dhaka’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said allowing Hasina to make the speech set “a dangerous precedent” that could “seriously impair bilateral relations”.
What Sheikh Hasina had said
In her first public speech since her rule in Bangladesh ended, Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged the people to overthrow the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, as it cannot ensure free and fair polls. The address came less than three weeks before the general election scheduled for February 12. Describing Yunus as a “corrupt, power-hungry traitor” who had a hand in a conspiracy to oust her government, Hasina said: “In this grave hour, the entire nation must rise united and galvanised by the spirit of our great Liberation War.
“To overthrow the foreign-serving puppet regime of this national enemy at any cost, the brave sons and daughters of Bangladesh must defend and restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs, reclaim our independence, safeguard our sovereignty, and revive our democracy,” she added.
Hasina also called for an end to acts of violence and lawlessness in Bangladesh and an “ironclad guarantee” for the safety of religious minorities, women and the most vulnerable sections of society. She demanded that the United Nations should conduct a “new and truly impartial investigation” into the events since the fall of her government.
She alleged Bangladesh was “plunged into an age of terror” after “Yunus and his anti-state militant accomplices” ousted her government in a “meticulously engineered conspiracy” in August 2024. “Democracy is now in exile. Human rights have been trampled into the dust. Freedom of the press has been extinguished. Violence, torture, and sexual assault against women and girls remain unchecked. Religious minorities face continuous persecution. Law and order have collapsed,” she said in the address.
The event was also addressed, in person or virtually, by other Awami League leaders, including former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury and former foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, who reiterated a litany of charges against Yunus and contended that the upcoming election wouldn’t be free and fair without their party’s involvement.
