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12 August 2024

On paper, Bangladesh was on the rise. Why didn’t progress translate on the ground?

Sara Miller Llana 

As a new interim government in Bangladesh headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in Thursday, many are asking, What just happened?

Over the past 15 years, the story of Bangladesh has been one of unequivocal progress.

Once the third-poorest country in the world, Bangladesh steadily advanced on the right indexes: Textile and garment exports grew, as did access to education, while child poverty and maternal mortality fell. Bangladesh crackled with more widespread electricity. It constructed new roads, and cleaned up its water.

Who defines progress? Bangladesh’s impressive advancements overshadowed a growing discontent, which erupted into weeks of violent protests and upheaval. Some hope the new interim government marks a fresh start.

So the sudden ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this week, who had led Bangladesh during this entire era of growth, sent shock waves around the world.

For most Bangladeshis, however, it’s no mystery. Underneath macroeconomic success, Bangladesh has been watching inequality grow, even as poor people have grown wealthier, feeding into resentment and testing tolerance for worsening government corruption. And this year, as inflation put everyday goods out of reach for many citizens, that gap became too big to bridge. Indeed, bloody protests over the last month – which left 300 dead and ultimately led to Ms. Hasina’s resignation Monday – revealed a disconnect between outside views of progress and the experiences of regular Bangladeshis.

“There was this rhetoric of Bangladesh as racing on the highway of development, whereas the people were dealing with day-to-day life [amid] price hikes,” says Sharmee Hossain, a senior lecturer at North South University in Dhaka and member of the University Teachers’ Network. “There was a huge disconnect. And I think that’s where the dissatisfaction of the people grew, and the gulf between the government and the general people of Bangladesh started to widen.”

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