Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return to the country once elections are announced, according to her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Ms. Hasina, who resigned and fled earlier this week amid widespread unrest, is currently in India.
Reports from Bangladeshi media indicate that over 500 people have died during weeks of protests against Ms. Hasina, many of whom were shot by police. The violence has resulted in thousands of injuries and is considered the worst unrest Bangladesh has experienced since its war of independence in 1971.
“Absolutely, she will come [to Bangladesh],” Mr. Wazed told the BBC, noting that his mother will return as soon as the interim government decides to hold elections. The military-backed interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday, along with 16 advisers, including two student protest leaders.
Mr. Wazed, an IT expert residing in the US, served as an IT adviser to Ms. Hasina during her tenure as prime minister from 2009 to 2024. He stated, “She will certainly go back. Whether she comes back into politics or not, that decision has not been made. She is quite fed up with how she was treated.”
The student-led protests began last month against quotas in civil service jobs and escalated into a larger movement to oust Ms. Hasina following a violent police crackdown. Mr. Joy expressed confidence that if elections were held, the Awami League, Ms. Hasina’s party, would win.
“I am convinced that if you have elections in Bangladesh today, and if they are free and fair and if there’s a level playing field, then the Awami League will win,” he said.
Ms. Hasina secured her fourth consecutive term as prime minister in a controversial election held in January 2024, which opposition parties boycotted, arguing that free and fair elections were impossible under her government.
Her son termed the current interim government as unconstitutional and said elections should be held within 90 days.
However, he was a bit circumspect about his political ambitions or whether he would return to the country to stand for the leadership of the Awami League, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh, and Ms Hasina.
“No decision has been made in this regard. I never had political ambitions,” he says.
But he adds that he was upset over the way the protesters had ransacked and set fire to their ancestral homes, including the museum dedicated to his grandfather in Dhaka.
“Under these circumstances, I am quite angry, I will do whatever it takes,” he says.
He says he is in touch with party supporters who are very upset and outraged over what happened in the past few weeks.
“If 40,000 protesters or so can force the government to resign, then what happens if protests are held by the Awami League, which has millions of supporters?” he asserts.
Ms Hasina and her sister (Rehana Siddiq) have been stranded in Delhi since Monday.
India has been a strong supporter of the Bangladeshi leader.
There have been reports she is trying to seek asylum in the UK, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
“Those questions about her visa and asylum, they are all rumours,” her son says.
“She’s not applied anywhere. She’s staying put for the time being, watching how the situation unfolds in Bangladesh.
“Her ultimate goal is always to go back home in Bangladesh.”
Asked about well-documented human rights violations and extra-judicial killings during his mother’s 15-year tenure, he says some mistakes were made.
“Of course, there were individuals in our government who made mistakes, but we always righted the ship,” he adds.
“We had one minister’s son, who was a member of the special police force. He is in jail convicted of extra-judicial killings. That’s unprecedented.”
“My mother tried to do the right thing in terms of arrests,” her son insists.
