Sheikh Hasina Set for First Public Address in Delhi After 2024 Ouster
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to make her first public appearance in New Delhi on Wednesday, nearly two years after she fled Dhaka following a student-led uprising. The 78-year-old leader is scheduled to address an event at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia (FCCSA), with the session also being live-streamed on the club's social media platforms.
The event, set to take place from 6 PM to 7:30 PM at the Sir Mark Tully Auditorium, will also feature addresses by her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and former Bangladesh Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel. Hasina is expected to outline her plans to return to Bangladesh, a subject she has spoken about in recent interviews. This will be her first direct engagement with the media and the public since leaving the country on August 5, 2024.
Hasina, who has been living in India since her ouster, has repeatedly said she wishes to go back to Bangladesh despite facing legal consequences. In an email interview with AFP last week, she said, "I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison. I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me." In December, she had asserted that she was under no pressure from New Delhi and could reside in India "with due respect and dignity."
Her return, however, is fraught with legal hurdles. Bangladesh's Law Minister M Asaduzzaman said last week that Hasina would likely be arrested immediately upon arriving in the country, before she could surrender to a court. "Despite being a death penalty convict, being a Bangladeshi citizen, if she intends to surrender showing respect to the law by returning home, perhaps she will be arrested before she could do so," he told reporters. He added that the law would take its own course and that the interim government would exercise the authority given to it by law.
Hasina's passport was revoked by the interim government that assumed power after her ouster. When asked how she could travel without a valid passport, Asaduzzaman said, "It is her problem, not mine."
Hasina's government was toppled in August 2024 after weeks of violent student-led protests against a controversial quota system that later widened into demands for her resignation. The protests resulted in hundreds of deaths, and the government's crackdown drew widespread criticism. Following her ouster, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge. The Awami League, Hasina's political party, was disbanded under an executive order citing an anti-terror law.
In November 2025, the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced Hasina to death in absentia after convicting her of crimes against humanity for her role in the crackdown on the 2024 protests. Hasina has called the trial politically motivated. The tribunal was originally established in 2010 to prosecute collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War. Its mandate was later amended to include cases related to the 2024 protests, with the appointment of a chief prosecutor who had previously appeared as the key defence counsel in the collaborators' cases.
Wednesday's event at the FCCSA is expected to draw significant attention, both in India and Bangladesh. Hasina's address may provide clarity on her political future and her intentions regarding Bangladesh, amid an ongoing crackdown on her party's supporters in the country. It also comes at a time of strained relations between India and Bangladesh, with Dhaka expressing concerns over Hasina's presence on Indian soil.
