‘No role’ in Hasina’s media event: MEA says it doesn’t endorse anything said at the forum

Interestingly, the MEA’s response did not mention “democratically elected government of Bangladesh”. Earlier this year, New Delhi had raised questions over the inclusivity of the Bangladesh general elections, held in February, as the Hasina-led Awami League was banned from contesting it. Later, India welcomed the victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and congratulated its leader and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman; Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also attended his swearing-in ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Rahman soon after he was elected.

On August 5, Hasina addressed a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi via an audio link. She said her “life had moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago”, and she plans to return to her country, stand with its people and help improve their lives.

“Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to my people. I cannot stay away while my beloved countrymen are suffering. I know I may be detained. I may be sent to prison. They may try to enforce verdicts in fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people. My life moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago…”

Asked when she plans to return, Hasina referred to the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and said, “December is our victory month, so I want to go back in the month of December.”

“There were 19 assassination attempts against me… I am not worried about my future, I am worried about the future of Bangladesh. I want to return because the people deserve security, development, prosperity and peace,” she said.

“They deserve a state that protects them, an economy that gives them opportunity, and democracy that gives them rights. My return and the return of the family to the democratic process is not about power. It is about putting Bangladesh back on the right track. It is about reviving the country’s path of development, progress, secularism and stability. I want to return to Bangladesh for one purpose: to stand beside the people and help improve their lives. People are the source of all power. I believe in them. I love them and I will return to them,” Hasina said.

Hasina, who has been living in India ever since her ouster in August 2024, faces a death sentence in Bangladesh. Her party, the Awami League, has been banned in the country.

Reacting sharply to her presser, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday: “Bangladesh is outraged that the absconding convicted genocider Sheikh Hasina was allowed this evening to engage in live interaction with the media in New Delhi where she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against the State of Bangladesh and her people.”

“Dhaka deeply regrets that in spite of concerns conveyed a priori to the Government of India about the likely ramifications of this event on the reset of our bilateral relations, this public event was permitted to be held,” the ministry said.