Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina: Rise and fall of world's longest serving female Prime Minister

She resigned and fled the country after massive protests

A vandalised billboard in Dhaka of Sheikh Hasina, who resigned as Bangladesh prime minister and fled the country on Monday. EPA

Bangladesh’s politics took a dramatic turn on Monday when Sheikh Hasina resigned from the prime minister's post she had held since 2009 and fled the country as tens of thousands of protesters stormed her official residence in the capital.

What happened?

The protests began in early July when university students called for the abolition of quotas in civil service jobs. One-third of the jobs were reserved for relatives of veterans from Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971.

Students claimed that this system benefited those close to Ms Hasina.

What started as a peaceful protest movement soon escalated into a broader anti-government campaign demanding the prime minister's resignation.

As the movement grew, clashes erupted, with security forces cracking down on demonstrations.

More than 300 people, mostly students, have been killed in total since the protests began, including 98 on Sunday in one of the bloodiest days, after security forces clamped down on demonstrators as the government imposed a communication blackout.

Ms Hasina resigned after protesters stormed her residence in the capital Dhaka.

What next?

The Indian government confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that Ms Hasina was in the country, but her next steps are not clear.

While Ms Hasina has enjoyed good relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since 2014, she is reportedly planning to seek asylum in London.

The future of her party and Bangladesh will depend on the developments in the country where army chief Waker-uz-Zaman has announced that he will form an interim government.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is expected to be the new administration's chief adviser, after being proposed by the key student protest organisation.

Who is Sheikh Hasina?

The daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh who led the country to independence from Pakistan in 1971 and became its first president has had a tumultuous life.

Her father, mother and three siblings were killed at their residence in Dhaka along with household staff – 18 people altogether – when the military staged a coup in 1975.

After years in exile, she returned to Bangladesh in 1981, at the age of 33, after being elected president of her father’s Awami League party.

A strong proponent of moderate and secular ideology, Ms Hasina focused on providing education to girls, the uplift of women and the poor. She built infrastructure previously unseen in the poor nation, including railway lines, ports and expanded electricity grids that reached far-flung villages, and turned the country’s economy around.

She also forged ties with both India and China – the two regional powers.

An pro-democracy icon, her rule transformed into an autocratic one.

Her Awami League Party won an absolute majority in elections in January that were fraught with violence and boycotted by the BNP and its allies.

Downfall

Under her rule, Bangladesh reported economic growth at an average of 6.25 per cent annually over the last two decades.

But despite her economic wins, her governance was marred by allegations of human rights violations and corruption, increasing intolerance of dissent, political vendettas and shrinking press freedom.

Critics also accused her of rigging elections.

While her party won a landslide victory in 2014, the past two elections were said to be rigged.

Anger against Ms Hasina's rule had been building over the years but it was her government’s iron-fisted response to student protests in recent weeks that brought an end to her reign as the longest serving prime minister.

The students' anger reflected the lack of opportunities for youth in the country, of who about 40 per cent are neither in higher education nor employed, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.