This event is part of the series “The Neighbourhood Scope,” a monthly feature of the Strategic Studies Programme that intends to rekindle key conversations, questions, and debates concerning India’s neighbourhood.
Last month, a special tribunal in Bangladesh found former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death on charges related to her administration’s crackdown on the student protests in July 2024. Since the protests erupted last year, Bangladesh has been in a state of flux. The interim government under Mohammad Yunus has now announced that the next elections will happen in February 2026. As the country inches closer to a new election, questions about the revolution and its aftermath become increasingly imperative.
These themes are also discussed in the book, Inshallah Bangladesh: The Story of an unfinished revolution, written by Deep Halder, Jaideep Mazumdar and Shahidul Hasan Khokon. The discussion will deal with the following questions: What factors triggered the revolution in Bangladesh - how has the country changed since then? Who are the major political actors in the post-Hasina period? Will the interim government be successful in hosting the elections next year? How free and fair would those elections be? How has Bangladesh’s ties with its neighbours changed in the aftermath of the protests?
