'We failed to understand pulse of people': Awami League MP blames Hasina government

Bangladeshi actor-politician Asaduzzaman Noor, who served as the Cultural Affairs Minister from 2014 to 2019 under Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, said on Monday that the government and party failed to understand the people's sentiments and that citizens were unhappy.

The Awami League MP argued that there were several underlying reasons, besides the quota protests, that fueled the anti-government sentiment, leading to some of the worst violence in the country.

“...Actually, the people were not happy. I mean, quite unhappy about many things, and possibly we failed to understand the pulse of the people and didn't take it seriously,” Noor told India Today. He observed that people were “under huge pressure” due to the price hike of daily commodities.

“I mean, the middle class or working class were under a lot of pressure, financial pressure, because of the rise in prices and also I think corruption is a very important factor,” he noted.

Asaduzzaman Noor’s residence was also vandalised and set on fire by protestors, who targeted the residences and offices of Awami League leaders across the country on Sunday and Monday.

“I urged them to maintain peace and avoid conflict. That was my message to everyone, including my party. But today, I found that it's not working. First, they vandalised my home, and now I'm hearing that they have set it on fire,” he said.

Asaduzzaman Noor, an MP representing the Nilphamari-2 constituency since 2001, further said, “That was my home, my parental home, where I actually lived. It is in my constituency. When I go to my constituency, I live there.”

He alleged that the enforcement authorities are not “taking care of Dhaka.”

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday amid the violent protests that swept the country in the past few weeks. The country witnessed extreme violence on Sunday, with 97 deaths, as protesters marched to Dhaka. Amid this, Hasina resigned from her post and left the country.

The angry protesters stormed the Prime Minister’s residence as well as the parliament. The streets were filled with thousands of agitators, as the army announced that an interim government would take over.