Dhaka, Bangladesh – Six months after a mass rebellion toppled former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a mob set the home of her late father and the nation’s independence hero, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on fireplace on Wednesday evening.
Together with Rahman’s Dhanmondi 32 residence, protesters additionally set the properties of exiled leaders of Hasina’s get together, the Awami League, on fireplace.
The mob gathered after Hasina delivered a fiery on-line speech on Wednesday night from exile in India, wherein she known as on her supporters to face in opposition to the interim authorities led by Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus.
The Dhanmondi 32 home was additionally attacked in the course of the July-August protests in opposition to Hasina that culminated in her ousting after 15 years of rule. The protests, led largely by college students and younger folks, started over a controversial authorities job quota system and reworked into nationwide unrest following a harsh crackdown by authorities, the place a minimum of 834 folks have been killed and 20,000 have been injured in clashes with the police.
Who was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and what does the Dhanmondi 32 residence signify?
Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – broadly generally known as “Bangabandhu” (Pal of Bengal) and “Mujib” – led the nation’s liberation battle in opposition to Pakistan that led to its independence in 1971.
As the brand new nation’s first president and later prime minister, Rahman’s management formed the nation’s early years. On January 24, 1975, he launched a controversial one-party state system, generally known as Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BaKSAL), which eradicated political opposition. This technique gave the state full management over the media; merged state, authorities, and get together capabilities; and required army personnel, police, judges and civil servants to grow to be get together members.
On August 15, 1975, Mujib and all different members of his household, besides Hasina and her youthful sister, Sheikh Rehana, have been assassinated throughout a army coup at his residence on the Dhanmondi 32 street in Dhaka.
On the time, Hasina and her sister, Rehana, have been in Germany. They took refuge in India and stayed there till Hasina’s return to Bangladesh in Could 1981. Upon her return, she introduced the conversion of the residence to a museum as a memorial of the nation’s freedom on June 10, 1981. The museum was inaugurated on August 14, 1994, by which era, Bangladesh had a democratically-elected authorities after a sequence of 4 army or military-backed governments till 1990.
Hasina’s Awami League ultimately got here to energy, defeating the incumbent Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering authorities of Begum Khaleda Zia.
The home held nice significance inside Bangladesh’s independence motion, and plenty of world leaders met with Rahman on this home till his assassination.
What triggered the latest assaults?
Protesters view Rahman’s home and different Awami League member properties as symbols of what they describe as years of authoritarian rule, corruption and suppression of opposition voices.
A marketing campaign on social media to demolish the Dhanmondi 32 home had been mounting since Hasina was ousted from energy final 12 months.
On Tuesday, after BBC Bangla reported that the deposed prime minister would ship an deal with in a digital occasion on Wednesday evening, leaders of the College students In opposition to Discrimination motion, a gaggle at the forefront of the campaign against Hasina final 12 months, accused India of “waging struggle” in opposition to the folks of Bangladesh.
At 6:30pm native time (12:30 GMT) on Wednesday, the coed group’s chief, Hasnat Abdullah, wrote on Fb: “Tonight, Bangladesh will probably be free of the shrine of fascism.”
In response, police heightened safety within the Dhanmondi 32 space.
What occurred to Hasina’s household’s home?
By early night on Wednesday, protesters had gathered in entrance of the police barricade on the Dhanmondi 32 intersection in Dhaka. A gaggle of military troopers briefly joined the police to take care of safety however withdrew following a short altercation with the protesters.
Throughout Sheikh Hasina’s stay speech on the Awami League’s official Fb web page and on X, she accused the interim authorities of unlawfully seizing energy and known as for resistance.
Protesters, many affiliated with the College students In opposition to Discrimination motion, reacted with fury, with protesters carrying sticks, hammers and different instruments and storming the home earlier than setting it alight. Others introduced a crane and excavator to demolish the constructing.
As quickly because the excavator started demolishing, hundreds of protesters erupted in cheers. They have been additionally chanting slogans: “Smash the fascist stronghold, tear it down! Delhi or Dhaka? Dhaka, Dhaka! In Abu Sayeed’s Bengal, there’s no place for Hindutva.”
Abu Sayeed was an anti-Hasina protester killed in the security crackdown final July. Hindutva is the Hindu majoritarian ideology of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering.
“This home is an emblem of fascism, and the fascist Hasina is attempting to destabilise our nation from exile. We is not going to go away any hint of fascism intact,” Sayed Ahmed, one of many protesters, informed Al Jazeera.
There was a combined response from onlookers.
“Little question Hasina is responsible; folks have suffered due to her. However this home holds historic significance. I don’t suppose that is the precise transfer,” Iqbal, a businessman who had travelled by bike from the previous a part of the town with a buddy, informed Al Jazeera.
His buddy, nevertheless, mentioned he noticed the transfer as “fairly OK”.
Some folks have been seen taking bricks from the constructing as tokens, whereas others rushed in to gather books, furnishings, iron, damaged grills, wooden and the rest they may discover.
Requested by reporters on Thursday what steps police had taken to stop the assault on Rahman’s residence, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzat Ali mentioned: “We tried. I used to be there myself late into the evening.”
But, to date, nobody has been arrested.
Which different buildings have been focused?
Related incidents have taken place in a minimum of 19 different cities throughout the nation since Wednesday evening, in keeping with a report by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
These embody the demolition of the Awami League workplaces within the japanese district of Cumilla and the central district of Tangail, the residences of a number of key exiled leaders in Khulna, Noakhali and Kushtia districts, and the destruction of murals of Rahman in varied public institutions in Sylhet and Rangpur.
No casualties have been reported on account of these incidents to date.
Awami League leaders informed Prothom Alo that two get together members – considered one of them a lady – had additionally been assaulted, however Al Jazeera couldn’t independently confirm these claims.
How have the federal government and political figures responded?
In a press release to the media, the interim authorities known as the vandalism on the home “regrettable” however attributed it to “public outrage” over Hasina’s speech from India in regards to the July rebellion.
It accused Hasina of insulting the rebellion’s “martyrs” and inciting instability.
“Her phrases have reopened the injuries of the July bloodbath, resulting in the backlash” at Dhanmondi 32, learn a press release issued on Thursday afternoon by the workplace of the interim chief, Yunus.
“The federal government urges India to not enable its territory for use for destabilising Bangladesh,” it mentioned.
“Legislation enforcement is taking all crucial steps to revive order,” it mentioned, including: “Authorized actions may even be thought-about in opposition to these partaking in incitement.”
Stating that the prosecution of these answerable for the July killings is progressing, the federal government reaffirmed its dedication to making sure justice for the July killings.
Shafiqur Rahman, the chief of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami get together, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, mentioned in a Fb submit that he held Sheikh Hasina answerable for the state of affairs for her “incitement” by means of her speech.
In the meantime, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, a senior chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering, arguably the nation’s strongest political get together for the time being, mentioned in an occasion on Thursday: “We consider that some folks could have created this chaos to impede the trail of democracy within the coming days. Particularly, we should examine whether or not our neighbouring nation [India] has any involvement in it.”
What does this imply for the way forward for the Awami League?
As soon as Bangladesh’s strongest political drive, the Awami League now faces widespread hostility.
Analysts mentioned the vandalism of Rahman’s residence indicators a robust rejection of the get together’s legacy by sections of the inhabitants, notably by the scholars and younger individuals who largely led final 12 months’s mass protests.
Rezaul Karim Rony, analyst and editor of Joban journal, informed Al Jazeera: “The home was speculated to be utterly destroyed instantly after the autumn of the [Awami League] regime on August 5, nevertheless it remained largely intact regardless of partial vandalism. Now, as Sheikh Hasina denies the rebellion and exhibits no regret for the genocide whereas inciting her supporters, the folks have reacted by ending what was left.”
He added: “Many people are essential of this step. However they need to perceive that fascism in Bangladesh started with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and reached its peak beneath Hasina. The Awami League’s tribal, muscle-based politics will not prevail, as demonstrated by the July rebellion.”
Rony mentioned he might see no future for the Awami League. “After their tarnished legacy, even management change gained’t make the Awami League related.”
