Why Hasina letter mystery is fuelling a storm in Bangladesh

After the Prime Minister, it is the President of Bangladesh who’s in the eye of the storm. Fresh protests have broken out against President Mohammed Shahabuddin, with angry protesters storming the presidential palace and seeking his removal. The new crisis in Bangladesh is over former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation letter, or the non-existence of it.
The Sheikh Hasina regime was toppled by weeks of protests and bloodshed across Bangladesh and the killing of over 300 people. Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh on August 5 as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched towards her official residence, Ganabhaban.
That came after an anti-quota agitation grew into a movement to overthrow her as people revolted against her high-handedness and throttling of democracy. The Hasina-led Awami League had been in power since 2009.
Hasina managed to escape in the nick of time as the mob later ransacked Ganabhaban. She wanted to record a farewell speech but with the sea of protesters fast approaching Ganabhaban, the army gave her 45 minutes to pack up and leave Bangladesh to save her life.
Those last moments are what have fuelled the latest frenzy.
According to reports, Sheikh Hasina, along with her younger sister Rehana, arrived at the helipad at the Tejgaon Air Base, adjoining her official residence. Some of her belongings were loaded onboard.
It was reported that she then went to Bangabhobon, the President’s house, where she tendered her formal resignation to President Mohammed Shahabuddin.
But there is no resignation letter, at least not that President Shahabuddin knows of. That’s what Shahabuddin said in an interview with Janatar Chokh. He said that he had only heard that Hasina had resigned, but had no evidence of her resignation.
“I tried [to collect the resignation letter] many times but failed. Maybe she did not have the time,” Shahabuddin told Janatar Chokh.
Why Hasina’s resignation letter is important is because it legitimises the caretaker government headed by Muhammad Yunus. Otherwise, the government would be likened to being an illegitimate one that grabbed power amid a power vacuum in Bangladesh.
Those critical of the government have already started questioning it over Hasina’s missing resignation letter.
“Sheikh Hasina did not resign from her prime Minister post, and she is still alive. Therefore, the Yunus government is illegal,” said exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.
“Everybody in Bangladesh lied. The Army chief said Hasina resigned. The president said Hasina resigned. Yunus said Hasina resigned. But nobody has seen the resignation letter. A resignation letter is like a god, everybody says it is there, but nobody can show or prove it is there,” Nasreen said on X on Wednesday.
Nasreen was forced to flee from Bangladesh in the 90s because of a fatwa over her book Lajja. Like Sheikh Hasina, Nasreen, too, is in India.
Asif Nazrul, law adviser to the caretaker government, said that President Shahabuddin had said in a speech that Hasina had tendered her resignation and was now contradicting himself.
“You know Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has tendered her resignation letter to the president and I have received it,” Shahabuddin said in a televised address to the nation on August 5 night, hours after Hasina fled the strife-torn country.
Asif Nazrul said that the President was either lying during his speech or now, and he could face the charge of falsehood.
Though there is provision for impeaching the president, the caretaker government might not take such a drastic step and leave it to the protesters to pile pressure on Shahabuddin.
There is a reason why leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, which was the umbrella organisation under which the anti-Hasina protests were organised, want President Shahabuddin out.
Shahabuddin, who stepped into politics through the Chhatra League and the Jubo League, served as a coordinator in the trial to prosecute the assassins of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The Chhatra League and Jubo League are the Awami League’s student and youth wings, respectively.
Between 2011 and 2016, Shahabuddin was appointed as a commissioner of Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission.
In 2023, Shahabuddin, also known by his nickname Chuppu, was nominated by the Awami League as its candidate for President of Bangladesh, upon which he was elected unopposed to the ceremonial post.
On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gheraoed Bangabhaban and police had to resort to force to keep them away.
Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, two of the top leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, intervened and asked the protesters to leave, promising that a change would come in two days, the Dhaka-based Daily Star reported.
“We will remove Chuppu on Wednesday or Thursday,” said Hasnat, according to a Dhaka Tribune report.
“Decisions regarding the next president will be made based on consultations with all political parties. If we remove Chuppu without determining who the next president will be, neighbouring countries might seize the opportunity to conspire against us; they could interfere with our internal affairs at any time, citing the absence of a president,” Hasnat was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune.
The reference to “neighbouring countries” could be India, as anti-Hasina parties have always blamed India for helping Sheikh Hasina continue in power since she won the election in 2009.
Hasnat said that the next president would be selected with the advice of “political parties oppressed for the past 15 years”. That means, the Awami League wouldn’t be playing a role in the selection of the new president.
Protesters are back on the streets of Bangladesh and are trying to remove President Shahabuddin, the last of the Hasina loyalists. All because of Hasina’s resignation letter or the non-existence of it.