Hasina to stay in Delhi, rules out return while new government in power; vows Awami League will ‘rise again’
NEW DELHI: Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has no immediate plans to return home and continues to live freely in New Delhi, nearly a year after being forced from power.
In her first interview since her dramatic fall from office, Hasina told Reuters that the Awami League — which she led for over four decades — would eventually return to play a role in shaping Bangladesh’s future, whether from within the government or the opposition. However, she emphasized that her family need not lead the party’s next chapter.
“The ban on the Awami League is not only unjust, it is self-defeating,” Hasina said in emailed responses. “The next government must have electoral legitimacy. Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote. You cannot disenfranchise millions of people if you want a political system that works.”
The 78-year-old leader fled to India in August 2024 following a deadly, student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Since then, an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been in charge and has pledged to hold national elections in February 2026.
Hasina, however, said she would not return to Bangladesh under any administration formed after elections that exclude her party. “I will not return under a government that does not represent the people’s will,” she said.
The former prime minister’s comments come at a time of deep uncertainty in Bangladesh’s political landscape. The Awami League, which dominated politics for much of the past two decades, was officially barred from contesting next year’s election amid allegations of corruption and authoritarianism. The ban has triggered widespread debate over the legitimacy of the upcoming polls and raised concerns among Hasina’s supporters about political disenfranchisement.
Despite living in exile, Hasina remains a divisive but powerful figure in Bangladeshi politics. Her supporters hail her for steering the country’s rapid economic growth and infrastructural development, while her critics accuse her of suppressing dissent and undermining democratic institutions.
For now, Hasina appears to be watching events unfold from afar, confident that her party’s base remains intact. “You cannot erase a movement that lives in people’s hearts,” she told Reuters. “The Awami League has survived worse and will rise again.”
