Sajeeb Wazed Joy hints at entering politics directly

Special Correspondent

At such a time, BBC Bangla has interviewed Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of President Sheikh Hasina and former ICT advisor to the Prime Minister, in a report titled ‘Who will lead the Awami League after Sheikh Hasina?’

BBC Bangla wants to know from Hasina’s son Joy whether Sajeeb Wazed or Saima Wazed Putul, the puppet of the family, will come to lead the Awami League after Sheikh Hasina or someone else!

But Joy, without directly answering anyone, said, “The party will decide who will be the future leader.” By doing so, he was essentially alluding to the tradition of changing the Awami League’s leadership through the party council.

He said, “It doesn’t depend on me, it depends on the party. I never really wanted to do politics directly, but no one can say what will happen in the game that is going on now.”

Although he ruled out the possibility of Putul entering politics, saying, “My sister is not interested in politics,” he said about himself, “He will choose a party in due time” and who will lead it.

However, regarding his entry into politics, Joy said, “Many have told me to come, my mother said in 5-10 years, but we all want the party to choose it in due time.”

Regarding Saima Wazed Putul’s entry into politics, Joy said, “My sister is not interested in politics, as far as I know Putul also does not want to enter politics. However, many people think that, but that idea is wrong.”

Sajeeb Wazed Joy also answered the question of whether anyone else in this third generation of Bangabandhu’s family is interested in politics.

He said, “You have to have a desire to do politics, and in our family, except for Tulip, no one wanted to enter politics. Tulip was the only one who wanted to, but she did politics in England.”

Then, when asked by the BBC what leadership role you would like to take after your mother (Sheikh Hasina) in the Awami League, Joy gave a clear message that the ‘final’ decision would be made by the party council.

Allegations of a game of changing the leadership of two major parties from abroad

In the autograph, he said, “The party will decide who will be the future leader, I or anyone else cannot do that by giving orders from above. Now, the game of leadership change from abroad is going on in both parties of Bangladesh (Awami League-BNP).”

Through this, Sheikh Hasina’s son has sent a message that he will not sit quietly in the domestic and foreign ‘game’ going on with the Awami League, but will confront it.

Although the interim government is actively pursuing a process of ‘refining’ the Awami League by removing Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, the ‘interim government’s policymakers’ are failing to involve any level of workers and supporters in that process.

Party chief Sheikh Hasina was the ‘undoubtedly most unique’ leader of the Awami League for more than four decades. In 1981, in her absence, at the party’s 13th national conference, Sheikh Hasina was made the president as a symbol of the party’s ‘unity and solidarity’.

Since then, for the past 44 years, she has been working in every council as the Awami League president, enjoying immense popularity among party leaders and activists.

Meanwhile, despite offering to resign from the post of president in the 2019 council, Sheikh Hasina continued to serve as the party chief despite the ‘inflexible’ stance of the leaders and activists at the conference. Since then, no one’s name has come up as an alternative to Sheikh Hasina in the minds or thoughts of the party’s leaders and activists.

Even though Sheikh Hasina wanted to step down on her own, this time, even if ‘domestic and foreign players’ are playing the ‘refined Awami League’ game, Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s message is clear that it will not hold water.

Regarding the Refined Awami League, Sajeeb Wazed Joy said, “This Refined Awami League is a matter from the One-Eleven era. The Refined Awami League was still under discussion then.”

In this reality, Sajeeb Wazed questioned whose will is the Awami League, saying, “A few foreign countries, a few foreign powers, and some members of our civil society want to determine who will be refined as the prime minister, who will be refined as the leader.”

Explaining the discussions going on about the Refined Awami League, he said, “(They) will choose the leader from outside. Not by the people’s vote, not by the votes of the leaders and activists. That is the conspiracy of the Refined Awami League.”

He gave a clear message, saying, ‘I do not believe in a refined Awami League. I believe in democracy, the party will decide who will lead the party, the people of the country will decide who will lead the country.’