Speed With Which Yunus Seized Power Shows Coup Was Premeditated, Says Sheikh Hasina | Exclusive

Last Updated:November 13, 2025, 09:57 IST

Former Bangladesh PM told CNN-News18 the immediate immunity orders & scrapping of inquiry into last year’s violence showed the transition was planned well before the unrest peaked

Hasina pointed directly to the actions of the interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, as irrefutable proof of a preconceived plan to overthrow her administration. File image/AFP

In her first extensive conversation since leaving Dhaka, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the events that unfolded immediately after her departure from Dhaka, including Muhammad Yunus’s rapid takeover, immunity for last year’s rioters, and the dissolution of a judicial inquiry, make it clear that her ouster was not spontaneous but the result of a planned power shift.

In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18’s Manoj Gupta, Hasina said she initially viewed the unrest as a violent escalation of the quota protests, which by early August had turned into a “state of lawlessness led by a violent mob of radical agitators". But she insists that the real nature of the transition only became visible after she had already left. “It was only after the events of August 5 that I started to discern the premeditated nature of this coup," she said.

According to her, the speed with which Yunus consolidated control exposes the planning behind the takeover. “The speed with which Yunus seized power, the immediate immunity granted to perpetrators, and the dissolution of our judicial inquiry are all acts that indicate a preconceived strategy," she said. She added that “Yunus had been preparing to seize power, or those who installed him had."

Despite the speed and coordination she describes, Hasina did not place direct blame on the Army Chief. She made no allegation of his complicity, saying the military had been “faced with an impossible situation" during the violence.

Hasina sharply criticised Yunus’s early decisions in office, saying he has “placed radical extremists in his cabinet", dismantled constitutional guardrails, and remained silent while minorities were targeted. She said Western admirers who once praised him for his economic work “mistook his economic theories for democratic credentials", but that illusion, she argued, “is fading".

Denying claims of Western involvement in her ouster, Hasina said her government “had no reason to believe" foreign powers actively backed the transition. Instead, she portrayed it as an internally engineered effort that used street violence as cover while the new leadership moved quickly to neutralise institutions.

Hasina said Yunus is “an unelected figure" attempting to bar a party that “has been elected nine times" from the ballot box, warning that Bangladesh’s political future now hinges on restoring “free, fair, and inclusive elections".

News world Speed With Which Yunus Seized Power Shows Coup Was Premeditated, Says Sheikh Hasina | Exclusive

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