Dhaka, Bangladesh – It all began with a single word: “Razakar“.
In Bangladesh, “Razakar” is a highly offensive term. The word means volunteers but it refers to those who supported the Pakistani military’s operation to quell the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and were accused of heinous crimes.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, who resigned and fled the country in an army helicopter on Monday amid widespread unrest, has been known for using this term to label anyone she perceived as a threat or dissenter during her more than 15 years in power.
The daughter of the country’s founding father and former President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina was the leader of a pro-democracy uprising that toppled military ruler and then-President Hossain Mohammad Ershad from power in 1990.
Hasina first became prime minister after her Awami League party won the elections in 1996. She came to power again in 2009, helping to achieve impressive economic growth, while growing increasingly autocratic, cracking down on free speech, dissent and opposition in Bangladesh, a country of 170 million and the world’s eighth-most populated.
Hasina’s tenure as the longest-serving female head of government in Bangladesh was marked by the use of security forces, including the notorious Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary, which she was accused of using to abduct and even kill opposition members and dissenters, and allegedly rig the elections.
Even the judiciary, a largely bipartisan institution, became compromised during her tenure according to critics, forcing a chief justice to flee the country after he opposed her in a ruling.
Then there was the mainstream media, which, critics say, Hasina controlled to craft and maintain a narrative against her opponents. Most of Bangladesh’s mainstream media outlets are owned by businesses with ties to the Awami League.
The control over the media allowed Hasina to depict her supporters as the legitimate heirs to the legacy of the country’s independence and its achievements, while portraying dissenters and opposition members from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami (Bangladesh Islamic Assembly) as remnants of treasonous and “extremist” factions.
Former Prime Minister and key opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia was imprisoned in 2018 on corruption charges, while a leading figure in Jamaat-e-Islami was executed in 2016.
However, Hasina made a critical misstep by labelling students protesting for job quota reforms as “Razakar”, thereby crossing the rubicon.
Heavy-handed response sparks fire
During a news conference on July 14, Hasina was asked by a reporter about the student protests against job quotas which had been going on for more than a week.
In response, Hasina dismissively remarked, “If the grandchildren of freedom fighters don’t receive [quota] benefits, who will? The grandchildren of Razakars?”
Her comments ignited protests almost immediately. Students felt her remarks unfairly dismissed their efforts to address the “unfair” quota system in government jobs, which reserved some 30 percent of positions for the descendants of freedom fighters of the 1971 liberation movement.
The students began protesting within hours, marching through Dhaka University’s campus, chanting a provocative slogan: “Who are you? I am Razakar.”
Hasina’s response was heavy-handed, involving her party’s student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), and the police to quell the protests. This led to a day of violence on July 16, which resulted in six deaths.
Over the next four days, more than 200 people died, the vast majority students and everyday citizens, as police and BCL armed cadres fired live ammunition.
Rather than condemning the violence, Hasina focused on the damage to government property, such as metro rail and state-owned television buildings.
This only fuelled the anger of the students, who initially demanded a nine-point list of reforms, including Hasina’s unconditional apology and the removal of the minister for home affairs, Asaduzzaman Khan, as well as other ministers.
The protesters’ demands eventually coalesced into one cry: Hasina’s resignation.
Hasina’s ascent to power
Born in 1947 in what used to be East Pakistan, Hasina was politically active from a young age. Her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, known as the “Father of the Nation”, led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president.
By that time, Hasina had already made a name for herself as a prominent student leader at Dhaka University. The assassination of her father and most of her family during a 1975 military coup left her and her younger sister as the only survivors, as they were abroad at the time.
After spending a period in exile in India, Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and took over the leadership of the Awami League, the party founded by her father.
She played a crucial role in organising pro-democracy protests against General Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s military government, rapidly gaining national prominence.
Hasina first became the prime minister in 1996, earning recognition for securing a water-sharing agreement with India and a peace accord with tribal fighter groups in southeastern Bangladesh.
However, her administration faced criticism for alleged corruption and perceived favouritism towards India, which led to her losing power to her former ally-turned-rival, Begum Khaleda Zia.
In 2008, Hasina was re-elected as prime minister in a sweeping victory and subsequently led the government for the next 16 years.
Throughout her extended tenure, Hasina’s administration has been characterised by widespread political arrests and severe abuses, such as forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Tainted legacy
Rezaul Karim Rony, the editor of Joban magazine, told Al Jazeera, “She should have been tried for these crimes against humanity. Hasina has ruled through fear, implementing repressive laws and using her security forces to commit these atrocities.”
According to Human Rights Watch, since Sheikh Hasina’s tenure began in 2009, security forces have been implicated in more than 600 enforced disappearances.
Between January 2015 and December 2020, at least 755 people described as “militants” or “terrorists” by security forces were killed in 143 alleged shootouts and gunfights across the country, according to another HRW report.
Rony added: “Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes and live in hiding for years as Hasina used police forces to legally harass them and allow extortion.”
Political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman told Al Jazeera that the most significant damage Hasina has inflicted on the country is corruption in key institutions such as the judiciary, election commission, media and law enforcement. He noted that recovering these institutions would be a lengthy process.
Hasina previously said she was cracking down on corruption, but critics said there was no evidence that the government was ever serious about tackling the issue.
Furthermore, Hasina has tarnished the legacy of Bangladesh’s liberation war by distorting its narrative.
“The student protesters were so angered by Hasina labelling them as ‘Razakar’ that they began using the term themselves as a form of protest against her divisive tactics for political gain,” Rahman said.
“Ultimately, this contributed to her downfall.”
