Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, announced on Monday that his mother will not return to politics. This statement follows Hasina’s resignation and departure from Bangladesh, concluding her 15-year term as Prime Minister and marking her arrival in India.
Joy told the BBC’s Newshour programme that Bangladesh ex-PM Sheikh Hasina was ‘disappointed’ that after all her work, a minority rose up against her.
“So disappointed that after all her hard work, for a minority to rise up against her,” he told BBC. Sheikh Hasina had been deliberating about stepping down as the Prime Minister since Sunday, Joy claimed.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy also defended his Hasina’s tenure as the Bangladesh PM saying that she took over the country when it was a failing state and turned it around.
“She has turned Bangladesh around. When she took over power it was considered a failing state. It was a poor country. Until today it was considered one of the rising tigers of Asia. She’s very disappointed,” he told BBC.
Joy, who was an official adviser to the former Prime Minister until today, revealed that Sheikh Hasina left the country at her family’s insistence for her own safety.
In response to allegations of the government’s heavy-handed approach towards protestors, Joy counters, “You’ve had policemen beaten to death – 13 just yesterday. So what do you expect the police to do when mobs are beating people to death?”
Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country Monday, after weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs descended into violence killing at least 300 people and grew into a broader challenge to her 15-year rule.
Thousands of demonstrators stormed her official residence and other buildings associated with her party and family.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s departure could exacerbate instability in the densely populated nation bordering India, which is already grappling with a range of crises, from high unemployment and corruption to climate change.
Amid security concerns, the main airport in Dhaka, the capital, suspended operations.