DHAKA (WSN) – Student protesters who ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have turned down appeals from Bangladesh’s two major political parties for early elections and are contemplating establishing their own party to solidify the reforms, according to interviews with four protest leaders.
Their aim is to prevent a recurrence of the past 15 years, during which Hasina, leading a nation of around 170 million, maintained a firm grip on power.
The unrest began in June when a group of students, mostly in their early-to-mid 20s, organized demonstrations against a law that allocated prestigious government jobs to certain groups. The protests quickly escalated, and within weeks, Hasina’s administration was overthrown amid widespread outrage over the violent repression of anti-quota protesters. The crackdown resulted in at least 300 deaths, marking the largest single episode of violence since Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
The movement, described as a Gen Z revolution, was driven by the younger generation’s frustration with stagnant job growth, allegations of corruption, and diminishing civil liberties.
Currently, an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, which includes two student leaders in prominent roles, is overseeing the country.
For much of the last thirty years, Bangladesh has been ruled alternately by Hasina’s Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by her rival Khaleda Zia, both of whom are in their 70s. The student leaders are now considering forming a new political party to break the long-standing political duopoly, according to Mahfuj Alam, who heads a committee responsible for communication between the government and various social groups, including educators and activists.
