NEW DELHI: Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Sunday said the student movement that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government had “fooled us”, drawing a parallel between the protests in Bangladesh and the recent student demonstrations in Delhi.Speaking to reporters in Kolkata two days after returning to the city for the first time since 2007, the acclaimed writer acknowledged that she had not followed the Delhi protest closely, but added that a short video clip from the agitation “reminded me of the July 2024 students’ movement in Bangladesh.”“That student movement in Bangladesh fooled us. Because we thought the students wanted to abolish the quota system. Sheikh Hasina had also agreed to their demands, but ultimately the government fell. Later, we found that jihadis (Islamic fundamentalists) were behind that movement. The fallout has not been good for Bangladesh. Jihadis have taken over power there,” she told reporters.Nasreen, who left Bangladesh in 1994 following threats from Islamic radicals over her work, further stated that the developments in her home country had “reinforced” her concerns about the consequences of such movements.The 63-year-old author added that the 2024 Bangladesh protests should “therefore serve as a lesson.”Nasreen’s remarks came ahead of the second anniversary of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation on August 5. The former prime minister has been living in exile in New Delhi.
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The Awami League government was replaced by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus three days after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.In February this year, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a sweeping victory in a landmark parliamentary election, paving the way for party chairperson Tarique Rahman to become the new prime minister.The protests in Delhi were held demanding the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET (UG) paper leak issue and seeking broader examination reforms. After more than five weeks of an indefinite sit-in led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) in the national capital, Pradhan resigned on July 25, bringing the agitation to an end.(With PTI inputs)
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