Dhaka, Aug 13 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League Party has alleged that last year’s violent July demonstrations were not a spontaneous revolution, but a “carefully orchestrated coup” executed by unelected technocrats, backed by foreign powers, and led by Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Advisor of the interim government in the country.

The party mentioned that on the morning of August 5, 2024 Bangladesh witnessed the fall of a democratically-elected government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the collapse of democracy, constitution, and loss of its rightful place in the world.

“The architects of this coup did not just remove Sheikh Hasina — they attempted to erase everything she and the Awami League stood for. With one stroke, the legacy of Bangabandhu was thrown into question, the hard-earned achievements of the past 15 years were cast aside, and the machinery of the state was handed over to opportunists and ideological mercenaries,” read a statement issued by the Awami League on Wednesday.

“Yunus and his clique of elite academics, NGO operatives, and foreign advisors didn’t come to restore democracy — they came to redefine it to suit their own interests. They weaponised the frustrations of a generation, manipulated a grieving nation, and replaced a government elected by millions with a puppet regime born in the backrooms of embassies and donor boardrooms,” the statement added.

The party stated that from the beginning, last year’s movement “masquerading as a student-led protest over quotas” showed signs of deeper engineering.

Awami League questioned how a policy dispute could balloon overnight into a national crisis, and who funded the logistics behind massive rallies, media campaigns, and legal battles.

However, the party said, the answer indicates a “nexus of NGO-backed networks, foreign embassies, and powerful figures like Yunus, whose Nobel Peace Prize served as a convenient shield” while he undermined the very peace and democracy he claimed to support.

Slamming Yunus for his double standards, the Awami League asserted that while parading himself as a champion of democratic reform, he remained conspicuously silent on mob attacks against elected representatives, the toppling of state institutions, and the dismantling of democratic order.

The party emphasised that Yunus’ allies were emboldened by foreign approval, as “Western think tanks and media outlets — long critical of Hasina’s independence and refusal to toe the line of Western hegemony — suddenly found moral justification to support regime change”.

According to the Awami League what unfolded in 2024 was not a collapse — it was a “staged demolition”, where a functioning, elected government was overthrown under the guise of mass discontent, state media was seized, Awami League leaders were vilified or arrested, and the judiciary was used as a weapon rather than a safeguard, while Yunus and his foreign backers portrayed themselves as liberators.

“This wasn’t just a betrayal. It was a calculated demolition of a generation’s future — all to satisfy the ambitions of one man and his foreign-backed clique. A nation that once prided itself on its young demographic dividend now watches as its brightest minds flee the country, demoralized and disillusioned,” the party stated.

“In using the youth to climb the ladder of power, then kicking it away once he reached the top, Yunus proved that his so-called revolution was never about renewal. It was about revenge, and the youth of Bangladesh paid the price,” it added.

–IANS

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