After the bloodshed: Can Bangladesh’s Awami League resurrect itself?
Five months after Sheikh Hasina’s removal, the party is divided. Some leaders won’t apologise but grassroots Awami League activists want a reckoning.
Dhaka, Bangladesh — On the afternoon of July 16, 2024, as Abu Sayeed, a student leader at the forefront of protests against then-Prime Minister Sheikh Haisna’s leadership, was shot dead by police in Rangpur – a northern district – a strikingly different scene was unfolding in the capital, Dhaka.
At the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Abdur Rahman, a senior leader of Hasina’s Awami League and a minister in her government, sat unperturbed in his office enjoying a poetry recital by a local poet.
A video from that day captures Abdur Rahman reclining in his chair, resting his fist against his right cheek, listening casually. Towards the end, he offered a lighthearted response: “Wonderful.”
Moments later, when informed by an aide of the escalating unrest following Sayeed’s killing, he dismissed the concerns, saying, “Oh, nothing will happen. The leader [Hasina] will handle everything.”
That contrast between the tension exploding into deadly violence on the streets of Bangladesh and the minister’s seemingly casual demeanour has since come to epitomise, for many in the country, the Awami League’s disconnect from grassroots realities amid nationwide tumult.
Less than three weeks later, the Hasina government, accused of authoritarianism and brutality, was toppled by a student-led uprising. At least 834 people lost their lives in attacks on protesters and bystanders by law enforcement officials. The protests began on July 1 and ended on August 5 with Hasina fleeing to India. More than 20,000 others were injured, including women and children.
The upheaval brought down the