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 night time.
Together with Rahman’s Dhanmondi 32 residence, protesters additionally set the houses 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, by which 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 individuals, started over a controversial authorities job quota system and remodeled into nationwide unrest following a harsh crackdown by authorities, the place not less than 834 individuals had been killed and 20,000 had 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 often called “Bangabandhu” (Buddy 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, often called 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 change into get together members.
On August 15, 1975, Mujib and all different members of his household, besides Hasina and her youthful sister, Sheikh Rehana, had been assassinated throughout a army coup at his residence on the Dhanmondi 32 street in Dhaka.
On the time, Hasina and her sister, Rehana, had 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 period, Bangladesh had a democratically-elected authorities after a collection of 4 army or military-backed governments till 1990.
Hasina’s Awami League finally got here to energy, defeating the incumbent Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion authorities of Begum Khaleda Zia.
The home held nice significance inside Bangladesh’s independence motion, and lots of international 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 yr.
On Tuesday, after BBC Bangla reported that the deposed prime minister would ship an deal with in a digital occasion on Wednesday night time, leaders of the College students Towards Discrimination motion, a bunch at the forefront of the marketing campaign in opposition to Hasina final yr, accused India of “waging struggle” in opposition to the individuals of Bangladesh.
At 6:30pm native time (12:30 GMT) on Wednesday, the coed group’s chief, Hasnat Abdullah, wrote on Fb: “Tonight, Bangladesh can 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 bunch of military troopers briefly joined the police to take care of safety however withdrew following a quick altercation with the protesters.
Throughout Sheikh Hasina’s dwell 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 Towards 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 had 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 within the safety crackdown final July. Hindutva is the Hindu majoritarian ideology of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Occasion.
“This home is a logo of fascism, and the fascist Hasina is making an attempt to destabilise our nation from exile. We is not going to depart any hint of fascism intact,” Sayed Ahmed, one of many protesters, instructed Al Jazeera.
There was a combined response from onlookers.
“Little question Hasina is responsible; individuals have suffered due to her. However this home holds historic significance. I don’t assume that is the precise transfer,” Iqbal, a businessman who had travelled by bike from the previous a part of town with a buddy, instructed Al Jazeera.
His buddy, nevertheless, mentioned he noticed the transfer as “fairly OK”.
Some individuals had 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 might discover.
Requested by reporters on Thursday what steps police had taken to stop the assault on Rahman’s house, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzat Ali mentioned: “We tried. I used to be there myself late into the night time.”
But, to this point, nobody has been arrested.
Which different buildings had been focused?
Comparable incidents have taken place in not less than 19 different cities throughout the nation since Wednesday night time, in response to a report by the Prothom Alo newspaper.
These embody the demolition of the Awami League places of work within the jap 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 numerous public institutions in Sylhet and Rangpur.
No casualties have been reported because of these incidents to this point.
Awami League leaders instructed Prothom Alo that two get together members – certainly 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 an announcement 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 concerning 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 an announcement 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.
“Regulation enforcement is taking all essential steps to revive order,” it mentioned, including: “Authorized actions can even be thought-about in opposition to these participating in incitement.”
Stating that the prosecution of these chargeable 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 chargeable for the state of affairs for her “incitement” by way of her speech.
In the meantime, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, a senior chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion, arguably the nation’s strongest political get together in the mean time, mentioned in an occasion on Thursday: “We imagine that some individuals could have created this chaos to impede the trail of democracy within the coming days. Specifically, 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 pressure, the Awami League now faces widespread hostility.
Analysts mentioned the vandalism of Rahman’s residence alerts a powerful rejection of the get together’s legacy by sections of the inhabitants, notably by the scholars and younger individuals who largely led final yr’s mass protests.
Rezaul Karim Rony, analyst and editor of Joban journal, instructed Al Jazeera: “The home was speculated to be utterly destroyed instantly after the autumn of the [Awami League] regime on August 5, but it surely remained principally intact regardless of partial vandalism. Now, as Sheikh Hasina denies the rebellion and reveals no regret for the genocide whereas inciting her supporters, the individuals have reacted by ending what was left.”
He added: “Many people are vital of this step. However they need to perceive that fascism in Bangladesh started with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and reached its peak underneath Hasina. The Awami League’s tribal, muscle-based politics will now not prevail, as demonstrated by the July rebellion.”
Rony mentioned he may see no future for the Awami League. “After their tarnished legacy, even management change gained’t make the Awami League related.”
