Bangladesh student leader Nahid Islam, who led movement to ouster Sheikh Hasina, quits interim government
Bangladesh student leader Nahid Islam, who spearheaded the movement that led to the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government on August 5 last year, resigned from the interim government amid reports on Tuesday that he would join a new political party.
Official sources told UNB Nahid Islam submitted his resignation letter to Bangladesh current Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus.
National Citizen’s Committee chief organiser Sarjis Alam earlier said a new political outfit will be announced by them on Friday.
The new political outfit will be formed at the initiative of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and the National Citizens Committee.
Nahid is expected to lead the party as convener, sources told Somoy News.
The formation of the new political party hints that the student movement leaders want a resumption of electoral democracy in the South Asian country.
In the interim government led by Yunus, which came to power after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, Nahid was appointed as an adviser for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology.
Yunus, an unelected leader, has faced criticisms for the rise in violence against Hindus and other minorities since his government took control of the country following Hasina’s ouster.
He is also blamed by critics for patronising Islamists.
Rise to prominence
Nahid Islam, often described by the media as a soft-spoken sociology student, led the student’s protest in Bangladesh last year which ended Hasina’s straight 15-year rule in the country that was liberalised from Pakistan in 1971 with India’s support.
Islam rose to prominence in July last year after police detained him and several other Dhaka University students over the protest against job quota that turned violent.
Nearly 300 people, including a large number of students, died during the deadly protests that ended only after Hasina fled to India on August 5.
Born in 1998, Islam is the son of a teacher.
