My thoughts on Awami League’s press conference and Sheikh Hasina’s speech

Opinion

I listened to the speech of the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, at a press conference held in India on January 23, 2026. Among what the Prime Minister said, the 5-point demands that seemed most important to me were:

1) Under Yunus, Bangladesh’s geographical and constitutional interests are being sold to foreign powers.

2) Democracy must be re-established. That is why the illegal government of Yunus must be ousted and a fair election must be held with the participation of the Awami League.

They must return power to the people.

3) The rule of law must be restored to normalize daily life. The administration must be allowed to function independently and properly so that the economy can be restored.

4) The safety of women and religious minorities must be ensured. It must be ensured that all Bangladeshis feel safe in the country.

5) Politically motivated harassment must stop. All opposition forces, including the Awami League, must stop oppressing and harassing journalists. The judiciary must be made independent.

6) The United Nations should invite Bangladesh to conduct a new and impartial investigation into the events that have taken place in the country over the past year.

Sheikh Hasina ended her speech by calling on international parties to stand up for Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina’s demands seemed reasonable to me. Many people say there is no surprise here. I don’t know what surprise they expected. When in the country, if anyone speaks in favor of the Awami League, he is thrown in jail, then it is not clear to me what surprise should be brought.

But one thing seems a bit surprising to me. Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said in her regular audio for the past few months that the people of Bangladesh should not go to the polling stations to participate in any elections under Yunus. And the reason for her call is very clear. We know:

A) The result of the referendum has already been confirmed. So there will be no point in going to the polls and voting ‘no’.

b) Discussions are now underway about how many seats each party will get, and if elections are held, how Yunus and his illegal forces will remain in power as partners in protecting the interests of foreign powers.

In such a situation, going to the polling station for elections only legitimizes illegal elections.

Sheikh Hasina says these things almost every week. However, in her speech today, Sheikh Hasina did not prohibit people from going to the polling stations. She did not say much about the illegality of this election to international powers either. As a result, many are doubting whether this is a statement recorded a long time ago! If so, it is a matter of great concern. Why should such a hotly debated press conference be held with old audio of Sheikh Hasina? Besides, the abundance of obsolete English words used in the speech indicates that the media wing of the Awami League is still not doing a good job. The recorded speech is supposed to be neat and fluent. In many cases, it seemed that the words were cut and pasted. It was not considered irrelevant to ask why this opportunity for criticism was given, and who is responsible for it.

Also, here are some of the criticisms people have made about this press conference:

1) No one could be heard or understood clearly. I agree. However, the sound quality of some news media on YouTube sounded slightly better than others. The reason for this is the quality of the audio, which needs to be investigated.

2) Many say that Sheikh Hasina’s speech did not seem fluent. The quality of English is questionable. The way she read the written speech, the lack of preparation is clear. The choice of different words in the English speech did not seem mature. Agree.

3) What was new in the press conference – this question has been asked by many. My point on this is why there should be something new in every press conference? The country is going through an unstable, dark period. For the second time since 1971, a government-in-exile has been formed in Bangladesh. The country is moving between the dual positions of an occupying government and a government-in-exile. Now, regular attendance is the most important thing.

4) Since many leaders and activists of Awami League, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, are in India, it is natural that a lot of work will be centered on India or in India. But I also want to say that the people of Bangladesh, a large population, hate India and in such a situation, if all the activities of Awami League are centered on India, it will not be good for the party. Why the people of Bangladesh hate India so much is a different matter, and unfortunately, this hatred has increased the most during the Awami regime. But that research is for another day. Awami League should regularly hold such press conferences and events from different countries around the world. And in that case, there is no reason to think that people will drive away the buffaloes from the forest by eating at home. The ministers and MPs who have committed corruption worth hundreds of crores of taka will now have to spend it, or else they will have to be expelled from the party.

5) I was surprised to see a statement by Tarek Zia where he said that only 20 percent of people in Dhaka use the elevated expressway. What was the need to spend so much money on it? He also said that the quality of the Padda Bridge is not good, it is better if people do not use it. In these statements of his, it is clear that he has changed after 17 years of exile, hoping that he is a glutton. So, what is the preparation of the Awami League after the elections, it must be arranged internally and move forward quickly.

 

Awami League has already been out of power for 17 months. It will not take time to turn 17 months into 5 years. BNP has been out of power for 20 years. Awami League must enter the field in a planned manner quickly. For the sake of the country, Awami League does not have the opportunity to remain out of power for years. If Awami League is not in power for 5 years, the country will be destroyed. In the meantime, fundamentalists have stopped dancing, singing, recitation, concerts, and cricket. It will not take time for this to take a clear shape.

However, the people of the country must understand that Awami League coming to power is not important for Awami League. It is important for the people of the country. It is not enough to think about Razakars, fools, militants, fundamentalists, and greedy people. The country’s 100 million supporters of the liberation war must stand up from their respective places.

Watching the Awami League press conference, I became optimistic about the statements of Nowfel Chowdhury and Mohammad Ali Arafat. These two people are doing a wonderful job. To make the party acceptable at the international level, more such competent and eloquent speakers should be brought to the fore. Sheikh Hasina should take the initiative and talk to competent people in this regard. People have rejected people like Obaidul Quader and Hasan Mahmud. Let alone listening to their words, people don’t even want to see their faces. Their only job will be to use stolen money to accelerate the movement – that’s it.

There will be an expectation that the Awami League will be more careful and prepared when holding such a press conference. It is also necessary to keep in mind that Sheikh Hasina should not be used as a toy.

 

–Dr. Shamim Ahmed
Researcher and writer from Canada