‘Resignation letter in vanity bag’ — If Matiur Rahman Chowdhury’s claim is true, is the interim government illegal?

Editorial

Dhaka, 31 May 2026

Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, editor-in-chief of the Daily Manabzamin, today claimed that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in the 2024 mass uprising, wrote a three-page resignation letter before leaving the country and that she carried it with her in her vanity bag. This claim not only sparks a political debate but also points directly to a constitutional crisis — as the existence and status of the resignation letter have been in question since the beginning of the formation of the interim government.

 

The debate that was going on from the beginning

The confusion over the resignation letter began after Sheikh Hasina left the country for India on August 5, 2024. President Mohammad Shahabuddin admitted in an interview with Manabzamin that he had heard that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned, but he did not have any documentary evidence or documents in this regard. According to the President, “I have tried to collect the resignation letter many times, but failed.”

In other words, the highest official of the state himself was not sure about the existence of the document on the basis of which the state structure was changed.

 

Constitutional basis for the formation of an interim government

According to Article 57 of the Constitution, the condition for the office of Prime Minister to become vacant is to submit resignation to the President. According to the President’s announcement, he was informed that he had accepted Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the 12th Parliament was dissolved the next day. Then, based on the opinion of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, an interim government was formed on 8 August 2024 and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as the Chief Advisor.

The Supreme Court itself has expressed its opinion that an interim government can be formed to fill the constitutional vacuum and ensure smooth functioning of the executive branch.

But at the heart of this entire structure lies a question: Where is the resignation letter?

 

Explosive question: Is the government illegitimate if the resignation letter goes in the bag?

According to Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, if the Prime Minister’s resignation letter was really submitted, it should have been with the President. But his claim today is that Sheikh Hasina herself packed the resignation letter in a vanity bag. If this claim is true, then the question that inevitably comes to the fore is — if the document on the basis of which the President declared the vacancy and dissolved Parliament never reached the President — does the entire process become constitutionally questionable?

In this context, Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy had previously said that the interim government formed without the formal resignation of the Prime Minister can be challenged in court.

 

History repeats itself: that vanity bag

Here, history seems to be repeating itself in a surprising way. After the horrific grenade attack on August 21, 2004, the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia claimed that Sheikh Hasina herself had carried a grenade in a vanity bag to the meeting venue. That claim was proven baseless in subsequent investigations. Two decades later, a resignation letter was inserted into the same vanity bag. In Bangladeshi politics, this bag is like a miraculous container — anything can be put in it and taken out as needed.

 

The real question that cannot be avoided

Political analysts say that whether the vanity bag story is true or not, the main crisis remains. The President himself has admitted that he does not have documentary evidence of the resignation letter. The Yunus government had said that the resignation letter was preserved. Now Matiur Rahman Chowdhury is claiming that it is in the vanity bag. The three statements contradict each other. Hidden within this dispute is the biggest unresolved question of Bangladesh’s recent political transformation.