Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh on August 5 saw a dramatic and unforeseen end of Sheikh Hasina's 20-year rule when the prime minister fled from the capital Dhaka to a "safer place" in a military chopper. Across the border, as Hasina landed in Agartala in India's Tripura state, celebratory jubilation took over Bangladesh as angry protesters stormed inside her Gono Bhaban Palace, vandalised furniture, glass door panels, books and other items and expressed their anger against civil service job quotas recently announced by the government. 

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The protesters rampaged through symbols of Hasina's rule, including the busts of her father, the creator of Bangladesh, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

"Hasina sealed her fate when she decided to respond to the protests with brutality and arrogance rather than pursue serious dialogue with protest leaders. She pushed Bangladeshis over the edge," said Thomas Kean, Crisis Group's Senior Consultant on Bangladesh, while speaking to WION.

As the South Asian country turned into a state of chaos and anarchy, Hasina who once held the crown of Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister, tumbled down the stairs of power as people took control of what the country claimed as "democracy". 

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Sheikh Hasina's past

Sheikh Hasina, before becoming one of the strongest female political leaders of the Indian subcontinent, was the daughter of Bangladesh's founding father and first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

The woman who ruled this South Asian country for two decades, also became the longest-serving female head of government in the world before she was forced to step down on August 5. 

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Also Read: Bangladesh unrest: Sheikh Hasina resigns as PM; army chief says interim govt to be formed soon

After Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in the Bangladeshi coup d'état on August 15, 1975, Hasina witnessed the murder of her entire family - except for her husband, children and sister - a horrific incident which she has recollected umpteen times while addressing people.

Hasina, along with her surviving family members, hid in the house of the Bangladeshi ambassador to West Germany before eventually taking political asylum in India, where she rushed for safety even this time. 

Bangladesh's military government of Ziaur Rahman barred Hasina from entering the country and she was able to step on her soil on May 17, 1981, after getting elected President of the Awami League on February 16, 1981.

Hasina's rise to power 

In the 1980s, Hasina was kept in detention and house arrests multiple times as she campaigned against martial law and called for a return to democracy. 

She took part in the 1986 Bangladeshi general election - which took place under Martial Law - and eventually became the Leader of the Opposition. Hasina first came to power as she toppled her opposition and leader of the BNP, Khaleda Zia, from power. 

Hasina's Awami League lost the 2001 General Elections and soon after Hasina faced an assassination attempt - which served as a stark reminder of her past. 

A grenade attack was carried out at an Awami League gathering on August 21 in Dhaka which led to the death of 24 party supporters. 

Before the 2007 elections, the country was battling political unrest and a caretaker government was established after Khaleda Zia's regime ended in October 2006. 

In July 2007, the police arrested Hasina on charges of extortion and she was kept in a building which has been converted into a jail on the premises of the parliament.

She was also charged with being the mastermind of the murder of four supporters of the rival political party. She was later released on parole on the basis of medical reasons. 

Hasina's opposition-less democracy 

In 2009, Hasina again clinched victory and this time she held on to power till present, as the world saw her rule over democracy in her style.

Hasina’s government through these years remain tainted with accusations of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and torture of opposition leaders. 

As Bangladesh's democratic credentials remained under question, the governments of other nation-states, notably the United States, publicly appealed to the prime minister to ensure that the citizens were freely engaging in peaceful political activities.

Experts say that Bangladesh's new rulers need to embark on a long task of rebuilding democracy in the human capital-rich South Asian nation surrounded by India from three sides. 

Hasina's Awami League had clinched a landslide victory in the 2014 General Elections but the win came in the wake of the polls boycott by leading opposition parties amid reports of a lack of non-partisan administration for carrying out the polls, unfair means being used in elections, and alleged crackdown on the opposition. 

The situation grimed further as Hasina consolidated her power in the third and fourth consecutive terms amid crippling opposition, allegedly "farcical" elections and dying democracy. The balance of power was long lost. 

"Part of the reason the protest movement gained such widespread support was the fact the country has not held a competitive election in 15 years," said Kean. 

Watch: Bangladesh PM Hasina leaves Dhaka while protesters storm her official residence

The year 2018 saw nothing new as opposition leaders were detained or arrested, not allowed to hold meetings and reports emerged of election agents getting abducted amid general elections. 

Hasina again came to power in 2024 in what the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) denounced as a "dummy election". Before ensuring that she climbs the throne this time, Hasina fiercely appealed to her party leaders, 

“The hands that would be raised against us have to be broken.”

On August 5, 2024, the hands that rose against Hasina's opposition-less democratic rule went beyond a visible count. These hands, on the back of the country's army, have now taken the power back in their grip to restore democracy - an initiative once vowed by Hasina herself.