An interim government is taking over in Bangladesh after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. It follows weeks of student-led protests that met with deadly force from police. TaiwanPlus speaks to Sreeradha Datta of O.P. Jindal University in India to discuss what's next for Bangladesh.
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00:00What are your expectations from the interim government led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus?
00:05I'm not sure if Bangladesh is prepared, is in a situation where they can go for fresh
00:10elections because what I've understood is that this interim government, which is, you
00:14know, because I think the interim government, some of the members or some of the political
00:19elite have been in constant conversation with the students and the youth leaders.
00:23And what they want to see right now is that it's an apolitical government.
00:28They always said that was their movement.
00:31Muhammad Yunus and some Bangladeshi commentators have described the ouster of Sheikh Hasina
00:36as the second liberation of Bangladesh.
00:40What's your view on this?
00:42So while it's called a second revolution, whatever they're calling it revolution, which
00:47is probably a break from the past, I would say that because the last 15 years has been
00:52extremely hard for many of the people who did not belong to the ruling party.
00:57So clearly they want a new life, a new awakening, I would say, it's like a new awakening.
01:03How did protests against the job quota system transform into anti-government protests, calling
01:07for the prime minister to step down?
01:09So I think it was on the 16th of July that one particular student, Abu Sayed in Drangpur,
01:15who was actually just having a conversation with the police.
01:18He was completely unarmed.
01:19He had some kind of a stick in his hand when suddenly he was brought down by the bullets
01:25from the policeman standing just in front of him.
01:29That really was the turn of events when the students came out in huge numbers across Bangladesh.