 "Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, has urged his people not to heed rumours of a coup that are swirling in the country. File image/Reuters")
Bangladesh is witnessing a “festival of rumours” against his administration, said the country’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus as rumours continue to swirl over a coup being orchestrated against him by the nation’s military.
The Nobel Laureate said in his nationwide televised address on the eve of Bangladesh’s 53rd Independence Day on March 26 that attempts are being made to mislead the people by spreading false information.
“As you know, since the interim government took office, there has been a festival of rumours in the media and social media. In order to destabilise the country, attempts are being made to mislead the people by spreading false information one after another,” Yunus said in a statement.
What’s going on? What led Yunus to make these remarks? Is a coup brewing in Bangladesh? We get the full story.
Rumours of coup swirl
Yunus’ remarks urging his countrymen to resist rumours come amid speculation that the Bangladesh army is considering removing Yunus and assuming control of the interim government. The speculation, which spread like wildfire, emerged after one news report quoting sources said that Bangladesh “may see a military takeover soon, with a possibility of the army removing interim government chief Muhammad Yunus and assuming control”. The story said the army held an “emergency meeting” on Monday that signalled “potential major developments in the coming days”.
As per the news report by an Indian outlet, the Bangladesh army’s chief Wakar Uz Zaman called for a meeting on Monday, which was attended by top army officers, including five Lieutenant Generals, eight Major Generals (GOCs), commanding officers of Independent Brigades, and officials from the army headquarters.
The report added that sources said the army may pressure the president to declare a state of emergency or stage a coup against Yunus. The army is also exploring the option of forming a national unity government under its oversight.
Furthermore, the presence of Bangladeshi army units in Dhaka has further fuelled coup rumours.
A video of Wakar Uz Zaman from last month also lends to the coup rumours. In February, the country’s army chief made a scathing attack on the political forces, saying that the country’s freedom would be jeopardised if they continued their fighting and squabbling.
Addressing an event organised by the army in Dhaka, Zaman said, “I am cautioning you – you may say later that I didn’t caution you. If you don’t overcome your differences and work together, if you keep flinging mud at each other, fighting and killing each other, the freedom of this country and its people will be endangered.”
He added, “For the last seven-eight months, I’ve had enough. I want the military to return to the barracks after leaving the country and the people in a good place.”
Rumours of a military coup against the Yunus government , which was appointed following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina last August, stem from reportedly escalating friction between the military government and the students’ movement.
In fact, earlier in March too, such rumours had circulated when it was reported that Lieutenant General Faizur Rahman, who is a quartermaster general, purportedly made moves to stage a coup to replace General Waqar-uz-Zaman as the country’s Army chief.
Yunus and Army deny coup rumours
In a nationwide address on Tuesday, Yunus dismissed rumours of a coup against him saying rumours are being spread in “all sorts of innovative ways”.
He also stated that as elections draw closer — the country is preparing for polls in late 2025 or early 2026 — the intensity of misinformation would escalate. “You all know who is behind it and why. We have sought the cooperation of the United Nations to prevent the propagation of these rumors and false theories. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has assured us of his cooperation in dealing with it.”
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh army has also dismissed reports that it was orchestrating a coup, dismissing the news report as “false and fabricated information”.
A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the country’s armed forces, read: “It has come to the attention of the Bangladesh Army that India Today has once again published a report based on false and fabricated information regarding a routine meeting held by the Bangladesh Army.”
“It is deeply troubling that India Today continues to publish sensationalist narratives without due diligence or a responsible commitment to journalistic integrity,” the army added in its statement.
It also urged all media outlets to “refrain from publishing unfounded and harmful claims that only serve to create unnecessary divisions and mistrust between people of these two great nations”.
Bangladesh’s history of coups
The rumours of a coup have brought focus once more to the country’s history of political upheaval. In 1975, Bangladesh’s first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , Hasina’s father, was assassinated along with most of his family members in a military coup that brought in a long period of military rule. Two more coups in the same year ended with General Ziaur Rahman seizing power in November.
Then, in 1981, Ziaur Rahman was assassinated by rebels who stormed into a government guest house in Chittagong where he was residing. The violence was believed to be the act of a small group of army officers.
In the following year, Rahman’s successor, Abdus Sattar, was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by Hussein Muhammad Ershad .
With inputs from agencies