Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of recently ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has appealed to India to take a leadership role in upholding Bangladesh’s constitutional integrity.
In a recent video interview with The Indian Express, Joy urged Delhi to ensure that elections are held within the 90-day constitutional deadline, to curb unrest, and to allow the Awami League to campaign and reorganise.
He expressed confidence that, with these assurances, his party would emerge victorious, maintaining its status as the most popular.
Joy admitted that the government's handling of student protests was flawed, suggesting that from the outset, the administration should have engaged with protesters and addressed concerns regarding quotas, rather than leaving the issue to the judiciary.
He criticised the government's failure to advocate for quota reductions in court and recommended a more proactive approach in addressing public grievances.
Joy also alleged that a foreign intelligence agency was involved in escalating the student protests into violence, citing the presence of firearms among protesters from 15 July as evidence.
He argued that such weaponry could only have been supplied by a foreign agency, given the difficulty of acquiring arms in Bangladesh due to effective counter-terrorism measures over the past 15 years.
Describing the events of 5 August, the day after his mother fled Bangladesh, Joy recounted that neither he nor Sheikh Hasina anticipated the situation would deteriorate so rapidly.
Hasina had planned to resign and deliver a video message to the public but was forced to flee when special security forces intervened.
Joy recounted persuading his mother to leave for her safety, fearing that remaining in the country could lead to violence and loss of life.
Since her departure, Sheikh Hasina has been in India, where she continues to monitor the evolving situation in Bangladesh, as confirmed by Joy.
