Mon Jan 27 11:06:30 IST 2025: ## Awami League Fractured After Ouster of Sheikh Hasina: Grassroots Revolt Against Leadership

**DHAKA, BANGLADESH** – Five months after the student-led uprising that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government, the party remains deeply divided. The July 2024 protests, sparked by the police killing of student leader Abu Sayeed, escalated into nationwide unrest, resulting in over 834 deaths and 20,000 injuries before Hasina’s flight to India.

While some senior Awami League figures, like former minister Abdur Rahman, displayed a detached attitude during the crisis, grassroots activists are demanding accountability for the government’s violent crackdown. Many accuse the party of losing touch with the public and becoming overly reliant on a top-down structure.

The party’s refusal to apologize for the violence and its claims of an “international conspiracy” are alienating grassroots members who feel abandoned and fear reprisals. Several activists, speaking anonymously, described feeling betrayed by the party leadership and have left politics entirely. The Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the Awami League’s student wing, was banned by the interim government.

Critics point to the party’s undemocratic practices, outdated committees, and reliance on intelligence reports, without proper engagement with the public. While some senior figures, like former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, blame a “joint coup,” others within the party, including Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj, acknowledge the need for accountability and an apology for the government’s actions.

Political analysts like Al Masud Hasanuzzaman and Ali Riaz emphasize the severity of the Awami League’s image and leadership crisis. They highlight the need for a formal apology, ideological shift, removal of Hasina’s family from leadership, and trials for those responsible for atrocities. Riaz outlined these conditions as prerequisites for any potential political comeback.

The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has indicated that the Awami League may be barred from participating in the upcoming elections, a position echoed by leaders of the student movement. This presents a significant challenge to the party’s hopes of a political revival, which many believe hinges on regaining public trust. While some senior leaders are attempting to rally support, their messages are met with skepticism from disillusioned grassroots activists who remain largely in hiding. The path to recovery for the Awami League appears long and arduous.

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