The new prime minister of the country, Sheikh Hasina, returns to power after seven years with a new vision of change as pledged by her party Awami League (AL).
Overcoming the uncertainty that gripped her political career following the 1/11/2007 regime change, she rebounded with a landslide victory in the parliamentary poll held at the very end of last year, which was also her party’s biggest electoral success under her leadership.
Stepping out of jail after over 11 months in detention, the AL chief started preparing for the ballots without wasting time.
Her charter for change, which includes building of a “digital Bangladesh”, drew public attention, particularly of the young generation, which was finally reflected in the battle of ballots, observed political analysts. Her promise of change also reflected in the formation of the cabinet as she appointed young and fresh people.
The restraint in her speech attacks on her political rivals won her popularity in the run up to the election. Her call upon all political parties to shun politics of confrontation, and to develop a healthy political culture for building a prosperous country, also earned her public kudos.
Born on September 28, 1947 and graduated from Dhaka University in 1973, Hasina became the prime minister of Bangladesh for the second time yesterday.
However, her reinstatement as the head of government did not come easy as her political career was never a cakewalk.
A little over six months into the just dissolved military backed caretaker government’s ascension to power two years ago, Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007 following her scathing criticism of the interim administration’s activities.
A failed attempt was also hatched to minus her from politics, but she survived as the undisputed leader of AL once again since she had been elected the president of the party in 1980.
While the caretaker government was putting pressure on her to retire from politics, she was also facing pressure within the party from some senior leaders who had started criticising her ‘autocratic ways’, offering party reforms.
Hasina was freed from a special jail on June 11, 2008, and the following day she left for the US for treatment of hearing and eyesight problems she has been suffering from since a grenade attack on her on August 21, 2004.
Even in her absence, the ‘reformists’ in the party were weakened by the wholehearted support the loyal and grassroots level leaders had for her.
She had been interned many times before too including in the form of house arrest, between 1983 and 1990, for her role in the fight for restoring democracy and for her vociferous opposition to the erstwhile military ruler HM Ershad, who currently is her grand alliance partner.
Hasina, who was first elected the president of AL in absentia in 1980 in a bid to reunite the party, returned home from exile in 1981 and took charge.
She proved her ability to lead by strengthening an already congealing movement against the erstwhile military regime until it reached the zenith and forced the autocratic ruler to step down, paving the way for restoration of democracy in 1990.
But her leadership in AL faced another challenge after its debacle in 1991 election, as she was blamed for the defeat. The party was facing a split, but she finally managed to keep it united back then as well.
After the 1991 parliamentary election, Hasina was made the leader of the opposition in the fifth parliament.
She successfully kept AL united and led the party to power in 1996 after its 21-year stint in the opposition since 1975.
Her party faced a huge election defeat yet again in 2001, returning to the opposition bench with herself as its leader.
In a span of seven years, she and her party again made a comeback with a landslide victory in the December 29, 2008 election.
Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana escaped a bloody coup on August 15, 1975, which assassinated her father also the supreme leader of the country’s liberation war Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of their family members, as they were abroad at the time.
The erstwhile military backed usurpers of state power forced them to remain in exile until 1981.
Since then, Hasina survived over a dozen assassination attempts with the latest and the most dreaded one being the grenade attack on an AL rally on August 21, 2004 on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital, while she was addressing the rally protesting the rise of Islamist militancy under the patronisation of the then four-party alliance government led by BNP.
Several dedicated party leaders and activists managed to save their leader by forming a human shield, but the attack left 22 AL leaders and activists killed and over two hundred injured, many of whom were maimed for life. Hasina herself suffered an ear injury.
Some of the other attempts on her life were also made while she was leading street agitations.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh News, Bangladesh Politics, Daily Bangladesh News
