‘Overthrow Yunus regime’: Hasina to voters ahead of Bangladesh polls

In her 10-minute speech in Bangla and English, she said, “My dear, honest, hardworking, and patriotic people of Bangladesh, our nation is stifled by an unelected violent regime whose false promises have quickly been supplanted by chaos, violence, hatred, and corruption. Faced with lawlessness and erosion of your democratic rights, your courage and strength are tested daily. Please do not give up now.”

She said that the Awami League is independent Bangladesh’s oldest and most important political party, “inexplicably interwoven with our country’s culture and democracy, defender of Bangladesh’s proud traditions of political and religious pluralism, and the committed upholder of our laws and Constitution”.

She listed out the five-point plan, saying, “Restore democracy by removing the illegal Yunus administration. Bangladesh will never experience free-and-fair elections until the shadow of the Yunus clique is lifted from the people of Bangladesh. Only then can we start a process, including the Awami League, to bring power back to the people.”

In her second point, Hasina said: “Put an end to the daily acts of violence we are seeing on our streets”, and allow civic services to function properly so that “our economy can once again thrive”.

The third point she made was about the safety of the religious minority groups. “Deliver an ironclad guarantee ensuring the safety of religious minority groups, women and girls, and the most vulnerable in our society… This must end, and every Bangladeshi must feel safe within their own community,” Hasina said, echoing one of the Indian government’s demands about the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh.

Her fourth point was about ending “politically motivated acts of lawfare used to intimidate, silence, and jail journalists and members of the Bangladesh Awami League and opposition political parties”.

Lastly, she urged the United Nations to conduct a “truly impartial investigation into the events of the past year”. “We need the purification of truth in order to reconcile, heal, and move forward as countrymen, rejecting the selfish pursuit of vengeance,” the ousted PM said.

Invoking her father and founder of Bangladesh, she said that the “homeland won through the supreme Liberation War under the leadership of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is now ravaged by the monstrous onslaught of extremist communal forces and foreign perpetrators… the entire country has become a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death.”

“The murderous, fascist Yunus, a usurer, a money launderer, a plunderer, and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor, has bled our nation dry with his all-consuming paradigms, staining the soul She said there was a “treacherous plot to barter away the territory and resources of Bangladesh to foreign interests”.

“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 said.

This was her first audio statement to an Indian audience, after one-and-half years of being in exile in India. She has made similar audio-recorded statements to the Bangladesh audience in the past, especially to the Awami League party members living inside and outside Bangladesh.