2024 Bangladesh uprising was 'planned regime change', not a student protest: Sheikh Hasina in audio address

In her audio address, Sheikh Hasina said the July-August 2024 movement was never a genuine student-led protest. She alleged it was a "meticulously designed" operation aimed at removing her government and installing a new regime outside the democratic process.Sheikh Hasina says she will return to Bangladesh in DecemberTwo years after being forced from power and fleeing to India, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made her first public appearance on Wednesday. In a virtual address from New Delhi, she alleged that the 2024 uprising which toppled her government was a "planned regime change" disguised as a student protest.In her audio address, Hasina said the July-August 2024 movement was never a genuine student-led protest. Instead, she alleged it was a "meticulously designed" operation aimed at removing her government and installing a new regime outside the democratic process. The address came despite Dhaka's objections to her participation and India's clarification that the event was organised by a private entity with no government involvement.Hasina began her address by paying tribute to Bangladesh's founding leader and her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the martyrs of the 1971 Liberation War and members of her own family who were killed during the August 1975 military coup.Fighting back tears, Hasina remembered the massacre that killed her father and several close relatives. Saying she spoke with "love for Bangladesh", Hasina described the country's current situation as deeply worrying before turning to the events that forced her from office. This is a developing story. It will be updated.- EndsPublished By: Sonali VermaPublished On: Aug 5, 2026 19:06 IST