Bangladesh: 'No democracy without Awami League and BNP'

DW (English)

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, tells DW in an exclusive interview that his mother resigned and fled the country "to avoid bloodshed."

Transcript

00:00We don't want violence, but you cannot have democracy in Bangladesh without Awamalik and frankly the BNP.

00:08BNP and Awamalik are the two largest political parties in Bangladesh.

00:12How can you possibly have democracy without BNP and Awamalik?

00:22Thank you. It's because she did not want to use force against the demonstrators.

00:27At that point, she had ordered the police and the military not to use force, not to use lethal force at all.

00:36And when the demonstrators decided that they would march on the Prime Minister's residence,

00:44she had told us, told me on the phone that I will not have the blood of students on my hands and I would rather resign.

00:55So she had planned to resign and announce her resignation and make an orderly constitutional transition.

01:04But once they started marching on, so when they marched to the military, the army barricades,

01:12the troops fired in the air, but they were under instructions not to use force on the students.

01:19So when the students didn't stop, even after firing in the air, the army, there was nothing much they could do.

01:26The students started marching and as they were approaching the Prime Minister's residence,

01:32that's when we started urging her to leave the country.

01:40No, not at all. Not at all.

01:43Actually, she did not want to leave the country.

01:45Even when the military, our SSF, they took her to a safe location in the cantonment.

01:54And at that point, when she went to the military airfield, she did not want to get on the helicopter.

02:03She was actually telling my aunt, you go ahead, I'm going to stay.

02:07My aunt called me, put me on the phone, and we persuaded her, no, you have to leave because otherwise they will kill you.

02:13So the pressure to leave was actually from us, from the family, from me, not from anyone else.

02:26Yes, mistakes were made. I think there were some mistakes made.

02:29But I also think that the protests were incited way beyond what they should have been.

02:36If you look at the evening of July, the night of July 15th, that is when the violence started.

02:42And if you look at the incidents then, you see my mother made a statement that we don't want families of Rajakars getting government jobs.

02:52So she was trying to explain the justification for the quota.

02:56You see, this whole thing was clearly incited because then some groups started spreading that she had called the students Rajakars.

03:04That is not what she said at all.

03:06And furthermore, so that night at Dhaka University, you had some group and no one seems to know who they are.

03:23I mean, I have no opinion on that remains to be seen.

03:26That is whom they seem to have chosen and we shall see how he does.

03:34Shek Hasina has not made any decision to go anywhere at all.

03:42She has not completely left Bangladesh. She never wanted to.

03:46At first, we thought this would be a good time to retire.

03:49This was going to be her last term.

03:51But given the violence against our own party members, so what happened is our party members are being attacked throughout the country.

04:00Dhaka is somewhat peaceful because the army is deployed.

04:03But outside of Dhaka, there is no law enforcement.

04:06There is no law and order.

04:08And our party people started getting attacked.

04:10Almost everyone's homes have been burned down.

04:12So at this point, what people underestimate is that the Awamal League is the largest political party in Bangladesh.

04:19The Awamal League is not weak. The Awamal League is not dead.

04:22We did not wish to be blamed for violence during the protests.

04:29Now we are no longer in charge.

04:31Awamal League is not in government, but the Awamal League has to defend itself.

04:34And we don't want violence.

04:37But you cannot have democracy in Bangladesh without Awamal League.

04:42And frankly, the BNP, BNP and Awamal League are the two largest political parties in Bangladesh.

04:48How can you possibly have democracy without BNP and Awamal League?

04:53Sooner or later, BNP or Awamal League will be in power.

04:56That is a matter of fact, as long as there is democracy.

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