New Delhi: The calls for a new president in Bangladesh grew louder as protests gripped several parts of Dhaka, days after President Mohammed Shahabuddin was quoted as saying that he lacked documentary evidence of ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh on 5 August this year as crowds of people, who had been protesting against the high-handedness of her Awami League government for months, marched towards her residence.
On Tuesday, several hundred protesters from the Raktim July 2024 and Shadhinota-Sarbobhoumotto Rokkha Committee, which led the Students Against Discrimination movement against Hasina, hit the streets again after the president’s comments raised questions about the validity of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh.
The protesters tried to breach the security barriers of the presidential palace, termed as Bangabhaban, at around 8.30 pm as a culmination of their sit-in at the site since 5 pm. Five people were injured in gunfire as security forces tried to contain the protest. The protesters, however, remained in front of Bangabhaban for over 12 hours, refusing to move till President Shahabuddin’s resignation. In response, security around Bangabhaban was increased.
On behalf of the protesters at Bangabhaban, Hasnat Abdullah, a prominent coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, declared before midnight that President Shahabuddin will be ousted by this week, specifically by Wednesday or Thursday.
However, in a media address later, Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to the chief adviser of the interim government (Yunus), said no decision had been taken regarding the president’s removal.
The Bangladesh president, on Monday, made a U-turn, saying Hasina’s resignation was settled and “the campaign carried out in various media” quoting him on the issue of Hasina’s resignation “has created confusion in the public mind”.
That, however, did not stop the protesting students from presenting a five-charter demand Tuesday afternoon at a rally in Dhaka’s Shaheed Minar. A repeal of the 1972 Constitution based on ‘Mujibism’, ban on all wings of Awami League by this week, naming The July Uprising as the ‘Proclamation of the Republic’, and declaring the last three general elections invalid are among their demands, which Hasnat has shared on his Facebook page.
In front of Bangabhaban, Hasnat told media persons Tuesday that all political parties should be consulted for selecting a new president, so as not to allow neighbouring countries an opportunity “to interfere with internal affairs”.
“Decisions regarding the next president will involve consultations with all political parties. If we remove Chuppu (Shahabuddin’s nickname) without establishing who will succeed him, neighbouring countries might seize the opportunity to interfere in our internal affairs, citing the lack of a president. Therefore, we will choose the next president based on the input of the political parties that have been oppressed for the past 15 years,” Hasnat told local media reporters.
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Bangladesh president’s contradictory statements
After Hasina’s ouster, the Bangladesh president, in a national address, said that he had received her resignation letter.
However, on 19 October, President Shahabuddin stated that he heard Sheikh Hasina had resigned as prime minister, but he did not possess any documentary evidence.
“At one point, I heard she had left the country. She didn’t tell me anything. Anyway, when Army Chief General Waker came to the Bangabhaban, I tried to know if the prime minister resigned. He gave me the same answer: ‘I heard she resigned’. She perhaps did not get the time to let [us] know,” the president told Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, the chief editor of Manab Zamin, a daily newspaper in Bangladesh. “When things came under control, one day the cabinet secretary came to collect a copy of the resignation letter. I told him that I too am looking for it.”
This conversation was featured in the daily’s political magazine, Janatar Chokh, published on Sunday.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed made similar claims to Reuters in mid-August. “My mother never officially resigned. She didn’t have the time. She intended to make a statement and submit her resignation, but when the protesters began marching towards the prime minister’s residence, there was no time. My mother wasn’t even packed. According to the Constitution, she is still the prime minister of Bangladesh,” he stated.
The controversy intensified following Shahabuddin’s comments to Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, particularly after Law Adviser Asif Nazrul publicly criticised the Bangladesh president and questioned his “mental capacity to serve” and even called his statement to the Manab Zamin chief editor a lie.
Nazrul asserted that the president’s remarks could be considered misconduct and suggested that if he maintained this stance, the government should reevaluate his position.
Afterwards, the Bangabhaban issued the president’s statement pointing towards a media campaign, urging the public to avoid discussions on what was a settled issue and warning against embarrassing the government.
To affirm the validity of the Yunus government, the law adviser, in his comments, also referenced an opinion from the appellate division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, confirming that Hasina had resigned and that the president could appoint a chief adviser and other advisers. The SC opinion was in response to an earlier request by the president under Article 106 of the Constitution — which grants the top court advisory powers.
When asked if the government could publicly produce the resignation letter, Nazrul said that if Hasina resigned, the letter should be in the president’s office and could not be questioned in court. He pointed out that under Section 57(a) of the Constitution, the prime minister’s office becomes vacant upon resignation.
Meanwhile, newspapers across the country condemned the president’s contradictory statements.
“Did the president not grasp the gravity of the confusion he created through his contradictory statement? Did he not consider that his statement would raise concerns that are far more consequential? As far as we see it, the issue of the former prime minister’s resignation is a settled matter. Thus, the president’s decision to make the statement that touched off such a controversy was unwise. And it also raises questions about whether the president has taken his role seriously enough,” The Daily Star wrote in its editorial.
Meanwhile, lawyer and historian Umran Chowdhury, in an op-ed for Dhaka Tribune, wrote that amid the controversy, there were demands from many quarters that Muhammad Yunus should become the president and continue to hold the office after a government assumes power in the next general election.
“With an individual with the stature of Yunus holding the presidency, the next political government would be accountable to a symbolically powerful presidency,” he wrote.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)