'Sick & Tired of...': July Proclamation to Test Yunus Govt's Fate in Bangladesh

On the first anniversary of Sheikh Hasina's ouster, the Yunus govt is slated to unveil a slew of democratic reforms.

Muhammad Yunus is expected to announce a slew of democratic reforms under the 'July Proclamation' on 5 August, which marks one year since Sheikh Hasina's ouster. 

(Photo: Vibhushta Singh/The Quint) 

Manik Mia Avenue – just in front of the Parliament complex in Dhaka – was chock-a-block on Monday, 4 August, with Bangladeshi workers burning the midnight oil to help with preparations for a celebratory event planned by the Muhammad Yunus-led government on Tuesday, 5 August, which will mark one year since the ouster of the country's longest-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

The workers belong to different schools of thought: a range of political parties and social activism groups – many which had been bitterly opposed to each other at some time or the other in the country's 53-year history.

However, the main reason that parties have decided to put their differences aside for the time being is that on Tuesday evening, the incumbent government will announce a slate of democratic reforms under the banner of the 'July Proclamation', which is expected to overhaul the country's democratic institutions.

On 29 July, Yunus had said that he had been working to "build a broad national consensus around a renewed political system – one that delivers inclusive, participatory, and credible elections". He further added that the reforms would be "presented to the nation in the presence of all political parties involved in the mass uprising".

The reforms have been a consistent demand of several groups, including student protesters, since Hasina's ouster.

However, despite the atmosphere of jubilation which surrounds the event, there is an underlying current of tensions.

This is because nobody knows exactly what the July Proclamation will contain, and whether it will live up to the expectations of different stakeholders.

July Proclamation To Be a Determinant of Yunus' Year-Long Rule

"Our primary goal is to get all the promised reforms under the July Proclamation – and the charter itself should be legally enforceable. Anyone who wins in future elections should be legally bound by it," says Mushfiq Us Salehin, Joint Member Secretary of the National Citizen Party (NCP), a political party formed recently by some members of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD), the group that had led protests against Hasina's rule in 2024.

The NCP – led by student leader Nahid Islam – had taken out a rally in front of the Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka, announcing a 24-point agenda for a "new Bangladesh". One of their pivotal agendas is the replacement of the country's 1972 Constitution – born under the leadership of the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman – with an entirely new document.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether Tuesday's July Proclamation will include that assurance, among others demanded by the student-led party.

"Our decision to participate or not in electoral politics will depend on the result of the proclamation. We feel that if this is just lip service, with no binding effect, then there's no point in participating in such an electoral process," Salehin tells The Quint.

The NCP was established in February this year with Yunus' blessing and had been holding extensive discussions with the government along with other stakeholders on a range of issues, including the timing for the next election.

"The last 15 years marked an extremely dark period in Bangladesh's history. We were extremely fearful of repercussions at that time, but now there is freedom to express oneself. There might be political differences, but debates on how to take the country forward are now taking place under a democratic umbrella."

Mushfiq Us Salehin

Working alongside Salehin at the Manik Mia Avenue is Mohammed Shafiqul, a member of the now-defunct SAD who did not follow suit like Salehin and the several hundred other members of the student group to form the NCP. His take on the Yunus government's performance over the last one year is more pessimistic.

"Yunus is a highly respectable person, but he's not a man built for politics," Shafiqul says while speaking to The Quint.

"He had made tall promises after taking control of the interim government, but those promises still haven't been fulfilled. That includes ensuring justice for the 1,400 people killed in the anti-Hasina protests. That includes initiating reforms for the police to ensure that their behaviour towards the public is more humane," he says.

He, however, concedes that the alleged autocratic practices that allegedly used to take place during Hasina's rule have drastically reduced under Yunus, if not disappeared altogether.

'Sick of Hollow Words' 

While members of the NCP and erstwhile SAD are still optimistic about changes in the country's democratic institutions, some others, including members of the Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), refuse to put their weight behind the interim government.

"I'm just sick and tired of hollow words," says Abdul Ali (name changed on request), a leader of the Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal, the BNP's student wing, while speaking to The Quint. "This government may not be totalitarian in its practices, but they seem completely incompetent," he adds.

On Sunday, 3 August, several members of the BNP's student wing had held demonstrations in Dhaka, vowing to work towards the "establishment of democracy". The rally, many opine, was a pressure tactic to get the Yunus government to include the party's demands in the July Proclamation. Similarly, the BNP had embarked on a massive rally in May this year, which it labelled a 'Rally for Establishing Youth Political Rights'. According to the party, the demonstration saw the participation of lakhs of BNP members.

"While there are several issues that plague the country, including inflation and unemployment, I believe they they can be managed with good policymakers at the helm. The problem is that large-scale corruption always drags us backwards; and I'm not sure how effective Muhammad Yunus has been in checking corruption in the country," Ali tells The Quint.

After coming to power on 8 August 2024, Yunus had formed 11 reform commissions. These included a National Consensus Commission to work with major political stakeholders to decide on the time and mode of elections as well as how future governments would function.

Despite months of discussions, however, different groups had been unable to reach a consensus on a process and time for polls to take place.

The Fate of Sheikh Hasina

While Bangladesh's political stakeholders may differ on the issues facing the country, the one factor that unites them all is "hatred" for Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League.

The country's International Crimes Tribunal had on Sunday, 3 August, initiated the trial of the deposed 77-year-old former prime minister in absentia in connection with hundreds of cases she has been charged with, the most serious of them being alleged crimes against humanity, including murder, and the violent suppression of the 2024 protests.

"It's true that Bangladesh became an independent country in 1971," Mohammed Shafiqul says, "but the fact of the matter is that we haven't had independence in its true form in a long time."

Calling Hasina's long rule a "dark period" in the country's history, Shafiqul alleges that even basic human rights had been denied when her administration was in power.

Jibon Ahmed, a journalist based in Dhaka, agrees with him. "If a system has worked in a certain way for 15 years, it cannot be overhauled completely in one year," he tells The Quint.

"The many problems that the country faces – high inflation, a tattered garments industry, et al – all of it is linked to Hasina's rule. This system needs to break for a new Bangladesh to take birth in place of the old."

Jibon Ahmed

One of the pivotal pieces of evidence that the prosecution is expected to use against Hasina is a call recording of a conversation between the deposed prime minister and an unidentified senior government official, in which the former can purportedly be heard authorising the use of "lethal weapons".

"Wherever they find them [protesters], they will shoot," Hasina is purportedly heard saying in the recording, which has been verified by the BBC.

While on the one hand Hasina's troubles are far from over, on the other the Yunus government has been accused of hypocrisy by members of her Awami League, which had been banned in May this year and disallowed from contesting any future elections.

Critics say that while on the surface Yunus speaks of promoting democratic values, in reality he indulges in the same undemocratic practices which Hasina has been accused of, including facilitating the "arbitrary detention" of political opponents.

The Awami League also alleges that 26 of its supporters have died in police custody in the last one year, adding that since August 2024, 3.6 lakh of their members have been arrested – with 1.37 lakh still awaiting trial.

"The hope of the thousands who braved lethal violence a year ago when they opposed Hasina’s abusive rule to build a rights-respecting democracy remains unfulfilled," says Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

"The interim government appears stuck, juggling an unreformed security sector, sometimes violent religious hardliners, and political groups that seem more focused on extracting vengeance on Hasina's supporters than protecting Bangladeshis' rights."

Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch