Sheikh Hasina hints at US role in her ouster; 'I could have remained in power...'

According to news reports, this is Sheikh Hasina's first reaction after her unceremonious exit from her country. 

In a speech, which was accessed by the Indian media, Sheikh Hasina said that she had resigned to avoid a “procession of dead bodies”. Though “they” wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, she did not want that and resigned from her post as Prime Minister, she added.

Accusing America

Further, she accused America for her situation. "I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech the people of my land not to be manipulated by radicals," said Sheikh Hasina in her undelivered speech accessed by NDTV.

Saint Martin island, located in the southernmost part of Bangladesh, and in the north-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, measures just 3 square kilometres. In May, Sheikh Hasina had referred to "conspiracies" being hatched to topple her government.

And had claimed that there was a "white man's" plot to create a new "Christian state" out of Bangladesh and Myanmar similar to East Timor. "If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem," she had said, alleging that she was even offered an easy re-election.

At that time, she did not name the country involved.

'More lives would have been lost'

The Awami League leader had to resign and flee the country after an agitation by students protesting against reservation in jobs snowballed into an anti-Sheikh Hasina movement forcing her ultimately to step down. As Sheikh Hasina tried to quell the protests over 400 protesters were killed.

According to the 76-year-old leader, if she had stayed in the country, more lives would have been lost and more resources would have been destroyed.

“I made the extremely difficult decision to exit. I have removed myself. You were my strength, you did not want me, so I have left," said the speech, according to news reports.

Awami League will bounce back

To her party members she assured them that the Awami League would bounce back and urged them not to lose hope. She promised to return soon. “I have lost but the people of Bangladesh have won, the people for whom my father, my family died," the speech added, quoted reports.

Hasina also made it clear that she did not call the protesting students ‘Razakars’. According to Sheikh Hasina, her words were "distorted" to "incite" them. She urged students to watch the full video of that day to understand how conspirators have exploited their innocence to destabilise the nation.

The term 'Razakars' is often used to refer to people who are believed to have collaborated with the Pakistani military during the 1971 Liberation War.