30 October 2024

‘Culture Of Mobocracy’ Through Post-Hasina Student Protests Engulfs Bangladesh’s Interim Govt – Analysis

Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The students who drove Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from office through protests are wielding power through on-going street demonstrations to pressure the interim government and courts to give in to their demands to clean house, observers say.

Student leaders who spearheaded massive protests in July and August, which brought about Hasina’s ouster, are serving in the interim government. But in the streets, students have been carrying on with protests, with the transitional administration headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus giving in to them on multiple occasions, potentially derailing its own authority and reform efforts, one analyst warned.

“It seems this interim government is performing according to the desire of the students. The students are the main force of this government. Questions remain whether it can use its authority without the influence of the students,” Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a political analyst and retired professor of public administration, told BenarNews.

“The government should change course and execute policies independently because leading a movement and leading a government are not the same,” he said.

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