Bangladesh flays India over Sheikh Hasina’s ‘hate speech’: 'Surprised, shocked'
Dhaka doesn't hide its angst as New Delhi allows the ousted leader to deliver a virtual public address weeks before the Feb 12 elections
Bangladesh on Sunday (January 25) slammed India for allowing its former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to virtually address a public event in New Delhi where she attacked the current interim administration in Dhaka led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. Her words came less than three weeks before Bangladesh goes to its much-anticipated national elections.
A statement released by the Bangladeshi foreign ministry said it was "surprised" and "shocked" and described the Awami League leader as a "mass murderer".
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In the statement, it said, "The government and the people of Bangladesh are surprised and shocked. Allowing the event to take place in the Indian capital and letting mass murderer Hasina openly deliver her hate speech constitutes a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh."
It criticised India for allowing Hasina to make the speech as it set "a dangerous precedent" that could "seriously impair bilateral relations".
"Bangladesh is deeply aggrieved that while India is yet to act on her obligations to hand Sheikh Hasina over to Bangladesh under the bilateral extradition agreement despite repeated requests by the Bangladesh Government, she has instead been allowed to make such inciteful pronouncements from its own soil," the statement further added.
Hasina's speech
The 78-year-old Hasina, who has been in India since August 2024 after fleeing her country following a mass upheaval, spoke in an audio address to a press club in the national capital on Friday (January 23). It was her first public speech in India since she left Dhaka a year-and-a-half ago.
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The event, where Hasina's speech was broadcast, was titled 'Save Democracy in Bangladesh' and was attended by several former ministers of her toppled government and members of the Bangladeshi diaspora.
She lashed out at Yunus in unsparing terms, calling him a "murderous fascist" and "power-hungry traitor" and urged her countrymen to come together to rekindle the spirit they had displayed during the country's liberation war of the early 1970s to "overthrow the foreign-serving puppet of this national enemy" at any cost.
She said Bangladesh needed to defend and restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs and reclaim its independence, safeguard its sovereignty, and revive its democracy.
"In this grave hour, the entire nation must rise united and galvanised by the spirit of our great Liberation War,” she said in the speech.
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“To overthrow the foreign-serving puppet regime of this national enemy at any cost, the brave sons and daughters of Bangladesh must defend and restore the Constitution written in the blood of martyrs, reclaim our independence, safeguard our sovereignty, and revive our democracy,” she added.
Call for democracy
Urging the United Nations to conduct a new impartial investigation, Hasina called for an end to acts of violence and lawlessness in Bangladesh and an “ironclad guarantee” for the safety of religious minorities, women and the most vulnerable sections of society.
In November last year, a Dhaka court found her guilty in absentia of incitement, issuing a kill order, and failing to prevent atrocities, sentencing her to death by hanging.
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“Democracy is now in exile. Human rights have been trampled into the dust. Freedom of the press has been extinguished. Violence, torture, and sexual assault against women and girls remain unchecked. Religious minorities face continuous persecution. Law and order have collapsed,” she said in the address.
While Hasina's League dominated Bangladesh's last few elections, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami have emerged as the main contenders ahead of the next polls, while the League has been banned.