Student politics are not a novelty in Bangladesh and it would not be wrong to say that the country has watched young and inexperienced people daring to challenge a prominent political personality like Sheikh Hasina Wazed.
These demonstrations started in June, with thousands of students from school, college, and universities mostly in their twenties taking to the streets all over the country demanding an end to the quota system that provided 30% government job reservation for the freedom fighters’ descendants – and later the prime minister’s resignation.
The month-long protest ended on Monday with surrealists Bangladeshis protesting outside PM Hasina’s palatial official residence which they finally stormed forcing the beleaguered leader to flee the country bringing a sudden end to her 20-year rule in two terms.
Cynical celebrators
Cynical celebrators wandered the streets as she fled with her daughter and sister to India; blood from the violent clashes involving students, security forces and counter-protesters from the ruling party Awami League’s student wing still smeared on pavements.
“There was this revelry of a sort that we have rid ourselves of this savage, Sheikh Hasina,” those are the words of 22 year old university student, Saima Rehman reported in The Independent.
Ms Hasina was in power; she dominated Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 with complementary authoritarian vices; suppressing opponents, flawed electoral processes as well as arresting opposition politicians to the extent that it became extremely hard to express disapproval in Bangladesh.
Indeed, for many like Ms Rehman, the demonstrations were a novelty, people having never felt the need to protest before. ‘
“We did not believe that we had the courage to confront the ruling party; it looked so real when we marched to her official residence,” She continued.
“Currently opposition parties claim that what was intended as an agitation for change of civil service quota system by some senior students in Bangladesh turned out to be a revolution that eliminated the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina,” says Sabrina Karim of the government, Cornell University.
“As such, this must be one of the few, if not the only, successful revolution spearheaded by Gen Z.”
protests began as nonviolent marches. One day it took an ugly turn when the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party, began mobs counter protests which led to riots.
Feeling the heat and realizing that she was under threat, Ms Hasina instructed law enforcing bodies to go on the rampage against the protesters in the attempt to suppress them.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Later on Bengali opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami supported the students, and hence the protest turned into one of the largest revolutions in the history of south Asia.
Last week, it even seemed as if the protests were dying down – restrictions to the internet connections and an indefinite curfew isolated the student coordinators and seemed to subdue their anger. The internet shut for this purpose compelled the student leaders to bag word of mouth and telephone calls in order to assemble the people.
“Once the Internet was briefly back, we posted messages on Facebook inviting people As soon As the Internet got back for some time, I posted some notes on the Facebook I said Come Join us of course we used the mass media to reach the masses but the notes mainly included messaging apps,” a 25 years old student who does not wish to be identified says.
Ms Hasina
Ms Hasina tried the last resort of mobilizing force to contain the protests, especially the one, which occurred on the Sunday, 5 people were killed, 14 police men and hundreds injured. T he third added 130 more deaths on Monday morning before the army informed the government that it would not shoot protesters anymore – in effect, toppling Ms Hasina’s government.
The best thing that the management could have accomplished was to ensure that all the student groups cooperated.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
It was after the resignation of Ms Hasina that most of the participants in the opposition party joined the ones on the streets, and the situation became ugly as they protested against the ruling party aggressively. Some carried out actions that involved defacing a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the president and founding father of Bangladesh as well as actual father to Ms Hasina. Massive fire-bolts which came from Dhaka and many houses and offices of ruling Awami League’s members were burnt alongside and the overstressed police began to retreat.
Bangladesh’s Gen Z revolution
Still, Bangladesh’s Gen Z revolution has not been free from taking certain tolls. Now through Monday, at least 440 people been killed since July 16, by the count of Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo. At least 32 children, some of them four years old died during the first phase of the violence as identified by the Unicef.
After a day that saw eruption of violence in Dhaka, Tuesday dawn came with no incidents of new violence as the presided dissolved parliament
Ms Karim noted there is no certainty yet that the revolution will be successful; success here they have measured on the interim government and the process forward for free elections and ‘reparations and reckonings’ for lives lost in the demonstrations. General Waker-uz-Zaman.
On Monday, the chief of the Pakistan army, General Waker-uz-Zaman said that he was going to take the responsibility of the country until the elections though the protest leaders have not agreed to having the influence of the military on the interim government. Military has said that Bangladesh’s interim government which is now headed by the Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus will be sworn in on Thursday.
Ms Rehman says that despite the ongoing uncertainty, a huge amount had already been achieved by students who refused to give up on their country: “We do not know the future of this country, but I am not regretting that I and my brethren overthrew a dictator. ”