Can Sheikh Hasina make a comeback as Bangladesh PM?

Can Sheikh Hasina made a comeback as Bangladesh’s prime minister?

A senior Awami League leader and close aide of Hasina has made the sensational claim.

Hasina, 76, the longtime prime minister of Bangladesh, fled to India after being ousted after a student-led movement.

Bangladesh in December officially requested India to send Hasina back.

The request was made through a “note verbale” to the Indian government, Bangladesh’s Interim government’s Foreign Affairs Adviser, Touhid Hossain said.

“We have sent a note verbale to India requesting to send Sheikh Hasina back,” Hossan added.

But what did the leader say? And can Hasina really make a comeback?

Let’s take a closer look

What did he say?

Rabbi Alam, Vice President of the United States (USA) Awami League told ANI that Hasina would return as Bangladesh’s prime minister.

“Sheikh Hasina is coming back as the Prime Minister. The young generation has made a mistake, but that’s not their fault, they have been manipulated,” Alam was quoted as saying.

He also described the current political crisis in Bangladesh as a ‘terror uprising.’

“Bangladesh is under attack and it needs to be addressed by the international community. A political uprising is fine, but that is not what has been going on in Bangladesh. This is a terrorist uprising,” he said.

Alam further thanked the Indian government for giving Hasina safe harbour.

“Many of our leaders are sheltered here in India, and we are very thankful to the Indian government for providing the alignment. I also thank PM Narendra Modi for providing a safe travel passage for our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We are thankful to the people of India…,” Alam added.

Alam also demanded that Mohammed Yunus, the caretaker prime minister of Bangladesh, step down.

“We want to ask the Bangladesh Advisor to step down and go back to where he came from… Sheikh Hasina is coming back as the Prime Minister. The young generation has made a mistake, but that’s not their fault; they have been manipulated.”

Can Hasina really make a comeback?

She certainly thinks so.

As per News18, Hasina in February vowed to return to Bangladesh.

Hasina, making a virtual address from an undisclosed location, promised to avenge those who died in the violence during the student-led protests.

“I will request all of you to have patience and stay united. I will return, avenge our martyrs. I will do justice like I did earlier. You have my word," Hasina vowed.

“Allah has given me a second life and I believe that this happened for a cause. They tried to kill me earlier also and they tried to kill me on the day (August 5). But I survived, only to a return again. I will do justice. Allah is with all of us," she added.

Hasina also slammed Yunus and accused him of atrocities.

“Yunus has no experience of running a government. He dissolved all inquiry committees and unleashed the terrorists to butcher people. They are destroying Bangladesh. We will out this government of terrorists. Inshallah.”

“I had made a trust to support the families, but our bank accounts, the trust and all our assets were frozen by this government. They slaughtered my family including my 10-year-old brother. I know what you are going through. I promise, I will come back," she concluded.

Hasina previously accused Yunus of being the “mastermind” behind the protests that led to her removal, alleging that the protests were “meticulously designed” to overthrow her government.

Yunus’ government responded by vowing to extradite Hasina.

“This is the government’s top priority. We will continue our efforts to extradite Hasina to hold her trial in person,” Yunus’ press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, was quoted as saying by NDTV.

What do experts say?

Some are quite upbeat about the possibility.

A return for Hasina “is quite credible,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told Time Magazine. “If you look at the history of dynastic politics in South Asia, you can never rule out dynastic parties even when they appear to be down and out.”

“This government has legitimacy, it has public support, but it doesn’t have popular mandate,” Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladeshi scholar at the University of Oslo in Norway, added.

Others are less optimistic in their assessments, noting how Sheikh Mujib’s statues have been toppled across the country and his paintings removed from pride of place.

“That’s how Sheikh Hasina’s legacy is being imagined among the young population,” says Mubashar.

“There is no way for Sheikh Hasina and her party to play any significant overt role in Bangladeshi politics for the next decade,” added Zillur Rahman, the executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Governance Studies think tank and a talk show host.

“This, of course, could change if the interim government fails monumentally.”

With inputs from agencies