At Jahangirnagar University, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Professor Shamima Sultana, head of the Bangla Department, took down a portrait of Sheikh Hasina from her office wall, challenging established norms.
“I refuse to display the picture of a murderer [Hasina], who is responsible for my child’s [student’s] blood,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
For the past two weeks, the South Asian nation home to around 170 million, has been in a state of upheaval. What began as a student protest for reforming the government job quota system has now drawn people from all walks of life onto the streets and evolved into a mass uprising, with many calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“There are no ifs and buts anymore,” declared Nazia Andalib, an aspiring poet and NGO worker. “This is no longer just a quota reform movement. It’s a movement against Hasina and her oppressive government. She must resign now.”
The protesters got their wish on Monday, when Hasina resigned and fled the country after protesters stormed her official residence.
How did a student-led demand for quota reform in the civil service escalate into a country-wide movement that ended Hasina’s 15-year reign?
During the earlier phase of the protests, from July 15-22, when students were on the streets demanding quota reform, the government responded with measures as severe as a “shoot-on-sight” order – resulting in reports of over 200 deaths and thousands of injuries.
A nationwide curfew was imposed with military patrols and no internet access. In between, the apex court slashed the government job quotas from 56 percent to 7 percent in an attempt to appease protesters.
Yet given the violence that had gone before, this concession failed to satisfy the nation. Protesters called for nine specific demands, which included an apology from Hasina and the resignation of six Cabinet ministers.
“The irony is that a political party with over a decade and a half of ruling experience believed that a mere reform could pacify the deep-seated frustration caused by Hasina’s numerous wrongdoings,” said political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman. “The latest of which is Hasina’s refusal to acknowledge her mistakes, including allowing police and party members to use brutal force against students and ordinary citizens, resulting in hundreds of deaths.”
Rather than apologize, however, the Hasina government doubled down on its suppression. After the initial wave of protests, the government’s heavy-handed tactics, including “block raids” against students and the arrest of at least 10,372 people nationwide – along with the arbitrary detention of an unverified number of individuals without charges – only intensified public anger.
Despite the climate of fear instilled by mass arrests, student protesters remained defiant. They launched fresh programs like the “March for Justice” and “Remembering our heroes,” calling for demonstrations at educational institutions, court premises, and major roads nationwide to push home their nine-point demands.
Defying monsoon rains, students gathered in large numbers across the capital on Friday, some clad in raincoats and holding umbrellas, while others remained drenched yet steadfast in their protests.
“What was Mughda’s fault? What was the fault of that little girl who was standing on the balcony? What crime did so many innocent people commit to deserve such death? Why were they killed so brutally? We demand justice for every one of these murders,” said a 12th-standard student whose board exam is now postponed.
As the marches continued, the tone of slogans now escalated to directly calling Sheikh Hasina a dictator – a once unthinkable action.
“Who came? Who came? The police came, the police came. What are they doing? They are here to lick the dictator’s feet,” chanted some female students while police forces were standing upfront in the northern district of Thakurgaon.
“She [Hasina] is using bullets bought with our tax money to shoot us. This country doesn’t belong to anyone’s father; it belongs to all of us,” said one female student, speaking to national televisions during a protest amid incessant rain in the capital’s Uttara.
In southeastern Chattogram, an ocean of protesters chanted slogans in Bengali:, “Down with autocracy, let democracy be free,” “1, 2, 3, 4….Sheikh Hasina dictator,” “What do we want? Resignation…One demand, one condition. Resignation, resignation.”
The internet was flooded with calls for “one point, one demand: the resignation of killer Hasina” as reports of police and ruling party men attacking peaceful protesters came in. All told, around 300 people have been killed in the violence, including almost 100 on Sunday alone.
The hashtag #StepDownHasina began trending on X (formerly Twitter), with over 80,000 posts expressing disapproval of the government.
Graffiti, artworks, festoons, and banners all reflect widespread disapproval of the incumbent government.
In the capital’s outskirts, at Jahangirnagar University, students and teachers defied the pouring rain to stage protest marches on Thursday with songs of resistance, drama, and performance art.
“Our demands are clear: the fall of a dictator, fulfilment of our nine-point demands, and justice for our brothers whose blood stained the streets,” said Prapti Taposhi, a student activist.
“Until all these demands are fulfilled, we won’t leave the streets,” she added.
As the protests changed focus, support for the movement surged, drawing in tens of thousands of people. Teachers, actors, and citizens from various walks of life joined students in their demonstrations.
Teachers have been reported obstructing police from detaining students, with many arguing with officers for their release.
Some of these confrontations have resulted in scuffles, with media reports indicating that two female teachers from Dhaka University were hit by police while trying to block their students’ detention – which sparked widespread condemnation as many questioned the audacity of police laying hands on a female university teacher.
“They kill our sons [students], beat them, they do not even spare the female ones and illegally detain them. As their teachers, we cannot tolerate this. Where does a policeman get the audacity to strike a university teacher?” Shamima Sultana, the professor who removed Hasina’s portrait from her office, told The Diplomat.
The killings that occurred during the quota reform protests were “state-sponsored acts carried out by government forces and their allies,” condemned Professor Salimullah Khan, an eminent scholar and thinker, while he was leading a group of university teachers to a demonstration in the capital.
“Do any of you believe that this government can deliver justice while in power? They will not seek justice for these killings because this government is the killer. How can you ask a killer to deliver justice for their massacre?” he questioned.
He emphasized the need for a political solution, stating, “The first step is for the current government to unconditionally apologize and resign. Without the government’s resignation, we cannot move forward to any new form of governance.”
Part of that first step has been taken. Hasina resigned on Monday, then boarded a military helicopter, along with her sister, to leave the country. Bangladesh’s military chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, said he would seek the president’s guidance on forming an interim government.
He promised that the military would launch an investigation into the deadly crackdown on student-led protests that fueled outrage against the government.
“Keep faith in the military, we will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible,” he said. “I have ordered that no army and police will indulge in any kind of firing.”
“Now, the students’ duty is to stay calm and help us,” he added.
Now the question is what the military’s promised investigation will yield. Hasina’s government had steadfastly blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami party for the unrest.
In a recent sitting with Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma, Hasina likened this student-led protest to “almost a terrorist attack,” alleging it aimed to create unrest similar to Sri Lanka’s.
In response, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir accused the government of deepening its crisis by becoming a “public enemy” through what he described as “genocide” to suppress the student protests, reported The Daily Star. He also called for the government to resign immediately.
This protest was the first major challenge to hit the Hasina administration, which has been in office since 2009.
Critics have long accused Hasina’s government of authoritarianism, corruption, and rigging the last three general elections – a claim the ruling party vehemently denies.
Asif Nazrul, an acclaimed political analyst and professor at Dhaka University, painted a broader picture of the reasons for public disapproval of the ruling government. “Consider the current living standards: inflation and food prices have soared dramatically, with food inflation at 10.76 percent and overall inflation exceeding 9 percent for nearly a year,” he noted.
“Recently, there have been reports of leaked civil service exam questions and numerous government officials involved in widespread corruption. Now, the severe mishandling of a student-led protest, which led to over 200 deaths, adds to the discontent. It is clear that public trust in this government has completely eroded,” the Nazrul remarked.
Since the protest movement began, the country’s economic woes have only deepened as many expatriates reportedly launched a boycott campaign to shake the Hasina government, urging people not to send remittances through official banking channels. Supporters of the boycott said their hard-earned money was being used to purchase bullets to kill their countrymen.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, remittance inflows, the South Asian nation’s second-biggest source of foreign currency, dropped to $1.9 billion in July from $2.54 billion in June.
Experts fear that the ongoing tensions could adversely impact exports, foreign trade, and foreign direct investments, further deepening the ongoing dollar shortage.
With Hasina gone, the protesters are celebrating – and reportedly looting her official residence. Now the big question is what comes next for a country that has known only Hasina’s increasingly tight-fisted rule for the past 15 years.