Furious Sheikh Hasina talks about revenge as protesters burnt down her father’s house

Hasina has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s 16-year regime.

Dhaka: A large group of protesters on Wednesday vandalised and set on fire Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s residence in Dhaka during a live online address of his daughter and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The angry mob vandalised the memorial and residence of Sheikh Hasina’s father located at Dhanmondi 32 in Bangladesh, demanding a ban on the party he founded, Awami League, on Wednesday evening.

According to the media reports, the attackers forcibly entered the premises after breaking open the gate and began a destructive rampage. Hasina, speaking at an event organized by the now-disbanded Chhatra League, the Awami League’s former student wing, urged the nation to unite in resistance against the current regime.

Furious Sheikh Hasina talks about revenge as protesters burnt down her father’s house

“They are yet to have the strength to destroy the national flag, the constitution and the independence that we earned at the cost of lives of millions of martyrs with a bulldozer,” Hasina remarked, seemingly referring to Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus’s current regime, established by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement.

In addition, 77-year-old Hasina added, “They can demolish a building, but not the history … but they must also remember that the history takes its revenge.” The student movement earlier promised to scrap Bangladesh’s 1972 Constitution as they promised to bury the “Mujibist constitution” while some far-right groups also suggested change of the national anthem adopted by Sheikh Mujib-led post-independence government.

Witnesses said several thousand people rallied in front of the house at the capital’s Dhanmondi area, which was earlier turned into a memorial museum, since early evening following a social media call for “Bulldozer Procession” as Hasina was supposed to make her address at 9 pm (BST).

The house became an iconic symbol in Bangladesh’s history as Sheikh Mujib largely led the pre-independence autonomy movement for decades from the house, while during the successive Awami League rule when it was turned into a museum, foreign heads of state or dignitaries used to visit in line with state protocol.

The 32 Dhanmondi residence was set on fire earlier on August 5 last year when Hasina’s nearly 16-year Awami League regime was toppled and she secretly left the country along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana for India on a Bangladesh Air Force flight.

Hasina has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s 16-year regime. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.

#WATCH | Bangladesh | A mob vandalised Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s memorial and residence at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka, demanding a ban on the Awami League. Reports link the protest to an online speech by former PM Sheikh Hasina. pic.twitter.com/UodpJrDTgT

— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2025

A key-organiser of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, Abdul Hannan Masud, meanwhile, called for the demolition of all residences belonging to former Awami League MPs and ministers in a Facebook post proposing new buildings be constructed on those sites. Earlier in the day, convenor of the platform Hasnat Abdullah warned Bangladesh media outlets against broadcasting Hasina’s speech, saying it would be seen as facilitating her agenda.

In her speech, Hasina, however, said the ordinary students were used by Yunus for an orchestrated movement to grab the state power and urged them to go back to their studies to build their future to serve the country.

(With Agencies Input)