Violent clashes between students and police in Bangladesh have officially claimed more than 300 lives (unofficial figures are much higher). The students are protesting against a controversial quota system that reserves 56% of governmental jobs, leaving only 44% for general merit-based selection. Although the initial mobilisation of the students was about quota reform, the continuation of the protests indicates deep-rooted anger against the Sheikh Hasina government. Even if the protests are called off, which is not the case at the moment, justice for those who lost their lives in the protests will remain elusive.
Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding father and first prime minister. She returned to Bangladesh to lead the Awami League (AL), one of the major political parties, at the end of her exile in India following her father’s assassination in a coup in 1975. Led by her father, the AL was at the forefront of the country’s liberation struggle and eventual separation from Pakistan in 1971. The quota system, the reform of which has now sparked the unrest, was introduced in Bangladesh by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman in the immediate aftermath of the country’s independence in 1971. The proposed distribution of quotas is as follows: 30% for children and grandchildren of freedom fighters (Mukti Joddha), 10% for women, 10% “zila quota” for “backward” districts, 5% for ethnic minorities and 1% for the physically challenged.
The government scrapped the quotas in 2018 after massive protests, which also turned violent. However, the High Court (HC) overturned the government’s decision to reinstate the quota system in June this year. The Supreme Court (SC) stayed the HC order and fixed 7 August to hear the government’s appeal. Meanwhile, the student-initiated protest against the HC’s decision began on 1 July. It is currently led by a group called the Anti-Discrimination Students‘ Movement.
The protesters argue that it is acceptable to reserve up to two generations of freedom fighters from entering these coveted jobs. Reserving 30% of the jobs for the relatives of freedom fighters, 50 years after independence, indirectly benefits the members of the ruling elite of the AL. The protesters therefore accused the PM of nepotism, where the quota system creates loyalists who will eventually be part of the administration. The issue of quotas for the physically challenged and other minority communities was not raised by the protesters.
What are the Underlying Causes of this Resentment?
First, Sheikh Hasina is currently serving her fourth term as Prime Minister (PM) of Bangladesh. She has been in office since 2009. The 2024 election was held on 7 January and is mired in controversy – electoral malpractices, almost no opposition candidates (as most are in jail) and a rigged administrative system unduly favourable to her. The Election Commission (EC) recorded a turnout of less than 40% of eligible voters; the figures could be even lower. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted the election, claiming that it would not be free and fair under the current EC. Hasina won 222 seats and 62 were won by dummy candidates backed by her party. Described as “electoral autocracy” by the V-Dem report, this election was criticised by the US State Department and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as not being free and fair. The Economist described this election as the official turn towards a one-party state.
Second, the country has made rapid progress in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) in recent decades. Compared to other South Asian countries, Bangladesh has consistently moved up the ladder in this category. According to the UNDP, Bangladesh is ranked 129th in the Medium Human Development category for 2023–24. In the 2023/24 Human Development Report, titled “Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarised world”, Bangladesh scored 0.670 (2022) – the highest among its South Asian neighbours. However, this development is not evenly distributed. The country is characterised by excessive deprivation, rising inflation, high unemployment (18 million), gender exclusion and a digital divide. These insecurities are compounded by the growing radicalisation of society and the weakening of democratic institutions. In the midst of this economic inequality, there is also stagnation in the private sector, making government jobs lucrative in terms of salary and perks.
How and Why Did the Protests Turn Violent?
Amid the ongoing student protests, Sheikh Hasina made a controversial remark at a press conference on July 14. Hasina called the protesters Razakars. This is an insulting and derogatory term used to describe those who collaborated with the Pakistani army during the liberation struggle and betrayed the country. The protesters repurposed the term to denounce the statement: “Who are you? Who am I? Razakar. Razakar. Who says this? An autocrat. Asked for our rights and became a Razakar”. Delegitimising violent anti-government protests often uses labels and identifications that divide groups and favour repression.
On 15 July, Chhatra League, the AL’s student wing, attacked protesters with police support, leaving six students dead. This acted as a significant trigger point for the protest to move towards more serious violence between the various pro- and anti-government groups. The issue-based protest soon turned into an anti-Hasina protest, with demonstrators calling her an autocrat and demanding her immediate resignation.
Unfolding of the Events
The protest soon spread to different campuses, including private and public colleges and universities. University campuses turned into open battlefields – Dhaka University, Jahangir Nagar University, Rajshahi University, Military Institute of Science and Technology, etc. – with students protesting in massive numbers and engaging in direct clashes with sticks and batons. The government deployed police and border guard forces to quell the student protests. While these measures failed to contain the protests, the government had to call in the army on 19 July and impose a nationwide curfew. The curfew bans all gatherings and, in extreme cases, orders the army to ‘shoot on sight‘.
Meanwhile, a heavy crackdown is already underway. Universities have been closed indefinitely. The internet has been shut down across the country as part of the crackdown. Many students and journalists are reported to have lost their lives. The Dhaka office of the state broadcaster, Bangladesh Television, was also attacked by the protesters. Several government buildings and public vehicles were destroyed. The websites of the Bangladesh police and the Chhatra League were hacked. This was followed by the hacking of the websites of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Bangladesh Bank. The pop-up message reads ‘Operation Huntdown’ and ‘Stop killing students’. Lawlessness spreads as protesters (it is difficult to pin the blame on any one group) storm Narsingdi jail, freeing hundreds of inmates.
Bangladeshi diaspora groups have been protesting around the world, calling for remittances not to be sent back to the country through legal channels. The overall impact of this call has yet to be measured by independent agencies, and official figures remain unreliable. A diaspora protest in the UAE took a different turn when 57 protesters were sentenced to long prison terms for disturbing public order – three for life, 53 for 10 years and one for 11 years.
Accusing the opposition of instigating the violence and using it for political gain, the government raided the party’s headquarters. After days of violent protests, Bangladesh’s SC scrapped the quota at a meeting on Sunday, 21 July. Most of the reserved seats were opened – 93% for general merit selection. 5% are reserved for freedom fighters and their kin, 1% for ethnic minorities and 1% for the physically challenged and the third gender.
The students have submitted a renewed demand to the prime minister, including a public apology from the prime minister, a ban on the Chhatra League, and a guarantee that none of those who took part in the protest will be harassed or targeted once the protest is withdrawn. In the meantime, internet services have been restored. Three of the student leaders were arrested by the Bangladeshi authorities at the hospital where they were being treated for injuries sustained during the protest. One of them, Nahid Islam, said in a video message from police headquarters on Sunday 28 July that they were calling off the protest because their demand for job quotas had been met.
The protests continued throughout the week. Sunday, 4 August was the deadliest day, with 90 people killed. Organisers called for a march to Dhaka on Monday, 5 August. In the meantime Sheikh Hasina has since fled the country with most of her senior cabinet. Army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman has said that the military will form an interim government and that justice will be done for those who have lost their lives. The PM has reportedly landed in India but will eventually travel to London.
What Lies Ahead?
The 2018 protests showed how things had turned ugly after the protests were suspended. Protesters were identified and murdered one by one in the months and years that followed. This time, the protesters fear a similar approach by the ruling party. As a result, they were initially reluctant to reach a consensual conclusion that would allow Hasina to continue to rule. Eventually, they decided to stick to one demand – that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should step down. The protest may have been triggered by a single incident. But there are underlying tensions and a collective distrust of the incumbent government. Nearly two decades of rule naturally breeds anti-incumbency sentiment. This is exacerbated when there is evidence of electoral malpractice and systematic suppression of the opposition. The clashes we have witnessed in recent weeks are the culmination of a combination of factors affecting people from different sections of society. The deepening socio-economic crisis has consolidated the disgruntled voices against the establishment.
Bangladesh is a relatively young nation. Most of the student protesters have limited patriotic attachment to the liberation struggle, except as a necessary part of their academic discourse. Sheikh Hasina has failed to create a legacy of her own, while at the same time using her father’s legacy for political mileage at every crisis. With the unfolding of the recent events the bloodshed will be even worse than what we have seen in the past one month. The involvement of the army and the geopolitical dynamics between India and China have further complicated the situation in Bangladesh. The country now could be plunged into a state of lawlessness, the effects of which will not be confined to the geographical borders of the country.
Suparna Banerjee
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