Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, AUG  11 : Sheikh Hasina wanted to address the nation before she resigned as Bangladesh Prime Minister and fled the country on August 5 amid violent protests by students. In her undelivered speech, accessed by India Today, Hasina accused the United States of plotting a regime change in Bangladesh and stated that she would have addressed this in her speech if given the opportunity.

Sheikh Hasina, who is now in India, has revealed that she could have remained in power if she had given “Saint Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America”.

“I could have remained in power if I had left St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America. Please do not be used by radicals,” the letter read.

The Saint Martin island, located in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, is the southernmost part of Bangladesh.

In her undelivered speech, the 76-year-old leader said that she resigned so that she does not have to see a “procession of dead bodies”.

Sheikh Hasina, in the undisclosed letter, said that more lives would have been lost is she had stayed in the country.

“Maybe if I was in the country today, more lives would have been lost, more wealth would have been destroyed. I removed myself, I came with your victory, you were my strength, you did not want me, I myself then left, resigned”, the letter read.

In the letter, the former Bangladesh Prime Minister also explained her ‘Razakar’ remark and said that she never called the protesting students Razakars.

“I would like to repeat to my young students that I never called you Razakars. My words have been distorted. I request you to watch the full video of that day. A group has taken advantage of your danger. I believe that you will be able to realize that one day,’ she said in the letter.

For the unversed, Sheikh Hasina made a statement in July, referring to Razakars, for the ongoing student protests amid growing resentment towards her.

During a press conference at her residence on July 14, when she was asked about the student protests, she responded, saying: “If the grandchildren of freedom fighters do not receive (quota) benefits, who would get it? The grandchildren of Razakars?”

The term “Razakar” is viewed as derogatory in Bangladesh, as it refers to those who supported the Pakistani military’s efforts to suppress the Bangladesh liberation war and are also accused of committing heinous crimes.

Relations between the US and Bangladesh had nose-dive during Sheikh Hasina’s term so much so that Washington DC had said the January elections in which Awami League returned to power were not free or fair.

Months before her exit, Sheikh Hasina had claimed that “conspiracies” were being hatched to topple her government and alleged a “white man’s” plot to carve a new “Christian country” out of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

“If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” she had said in May.

BANGLADESH PROTESTS

Amid student protests, violence erupted on August 5 after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to neighbouring India, where she is currently staying. The minorities, especially Hindus, have faced attacks in the Islamic nation after a violent uprising led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

Over 230 people have died since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of the country’s caretaker government.

The noted economist was recommended for the role by student protesters who led the protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which forced her to leave the country and brought down her Awami League government.

Yunus will be the chief adviser in the interim government tasked with holding fresh elections in Bangladesh.

-The India Today