Sheikh Hasina hints at US role in toppling her government in undelivered speech
Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina would have accused the US of the change in the recent regime in her country in her last speech which she was planning to deliver to the nation before her exit but could not do it since demonstrators entered her residence and she was forced to flee Dhaka last week.
According to reports, Hasina was planning to address the nation, especially the protesters who were demanding her resignation before leaving Bangldesh.
"I resigned so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it. I resigned from premiership. I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech to the people of my land, please do not be manipulated by radicals," her undelivered speech says as quoted by the Indian news channel NDTV.
"Maybe, if I had stayed in the country, more lives would have been lost. I have removed myself. You were my strength, you did not want me, so I have left," she was supposed to say in her undelivered speech.
She asked her Awami League members not to lose hope and promised to return to Bangladesh in future.
I have lost but the people of Bangladesh have won, the people for whom my father, my family died," the speech adds.
She clarified in her speech she never called the demonstrating students 'Razakars'.
Students initially started the protest in Bangladesh on the job quota issue but soon it spiralled into a movement against the government and demanded Hasina's resignation.
"I have never called you Razakars. Rather my words were distorted to incite you. I request you to watch the full video," read the speech.
The relationship between the US and Bangladesh touched a low point during Sheikh Hasina's regime.
After the January polls which saw Hasina returning to power for another term by registering a landslide victory, the former PM claimed a 'white man' offered her to create an airbase of a foreign country in her nation in return for smooth re-election in the January 7 general polls.
Hasina and her Awami League returned to power by registering a landslide victory in the election.
She did not mention the name of the country.
"Many have their eyes on this place. There is no controversy here, no conflict. I won't let that happen. This is also one of my crimes [in their eyes]," she was quoted as saying by Daily Star.
Speaking on the proposal to build an airbase, Hasina said: "The offer came from a white man."
She claimed their is also a plot to create a 'Christian state like East Timor' taking parts from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
She said, "Like East Timor ... they will carve out a Christian country taking parts of Bangladesh [Chattogram] and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal."
Following her exit, an interim government, under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus, was formed.
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