The First Anniversary of the July Revolution in Bangladesh

As Türkiye marked the eighth anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, a different kind of anniversary was being commemorated in Dhaka. Around this time last year, a mass uprising against Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year authoritarian rule in Bangladesh was rapidly gaining momentum. That uprising culminated in a full-blown revolution when Hasina fled to India on August 5. The event is now remembered as the July Revolution, and we’re in Dhaka this week for its first anniversary celebrations.

Commemorations have been ongoing since early July in the form of conferences, workshops, and forums discussing the country’s future during this transitional period. However, July 27 has now been officially designated as the symbolic date of the revolution.

Hasina’s regime was marked by brutal repression, especially toward members of Jamaat-e-Islami. But the crackdown extended far beyond them. Her specific animosity toward Jamaat seems to stem from her belief that the group was indirectly responsible for her father’s death. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—Bangladesh’s founding leader and first president—was assassinated at home along with most of his family during a military coup on August 15, 1975. The attack was carried out not by Jamaat, but by a group of junior army officers. Still, Hasina appears to have linked the group to her family’s tragedy due to Jamaat’s opposition to Bangladeshi independence and its past collaboration with Pakistan’s army during the 1971 war.

Ironically, as Bangladesh has veered too close to India in recent years, public sympathy for Pakistan—or at least, resistance to Indian dominance—has grown. While the country’s official identity is rooted in anti-Pakistani sentiment, growing Indian interference has made a pro-independence stance aligned with Islamist opposition appear more legitimate to many citizens. This disconnect between the state and the people mirrors similar paradoxes seen across the Muslim world. It also helped fuel the popular uprising against Hasina, whose rule had become synonymous with corruption, oppression, and arbitrary rule.

Though her vendetta against Jamaat may have had personal roots, her war on political dissent followed the playbook of many authoritarian regimes across the Muslim world: a mixture of Islamophobic rhetoric and suppression of faith-based movements, often encouraged by other so-called secular Muslim governments. But in Hasina’s case, her deepening ties with India gave her anti-Islamist stance an even sharper edge.

After gaining independence from India as part of Pakistan, and then again from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh’s national identity was built around opposing Pakistan. Over time, however, its increasing dependence on India—economically, politically, and culturally—sparked a backlash. This resistance was most vocally led by Islamist movements seeking genuine sovereignty.

The spark that ignited last year’s uprising came in late June, when Hasina’s government attempted to expand a controversial hiring quota reserved for descendants of those who died in the 1971 war. With youth unemployment already sky-high, this move—seen as yet another sign of favoritism and state-sponsored historical revisionism—triggered a massive wave of student protests. Hasina labeled the demonstrators "Razakars" (traitors who collaborated with Pakistan during the war), prompting protesters to respond with defiance: “We are all Razakars.” The revolution quickly evolved beyond a protest against Hasina herself, becoming a broader rejection of her ideology, her Islamophobia, and her subservience to India.

Over her 16-year rule, Hasina built a surveillance state not unlike the Baathist regimes of the Arab world. Her security apparatus instilled fear in every citizen, while her administration sank deeper into corruption. When she finally fled on August 5, the massive student-led demonstrations and nationwide marches ushered in one of the most hopeful chapters in recent Bangladeshi history.

By year’s end, the July Revolution in Bangladesh, along with the December 8 uprising in Syria and the December 15 ceasefire following Israel’s brutal 18-month siege of Gaza, led us to describe 2024 as a potential harbinger of a new spring in the Muslim world.

Back in April, an international conference on Bangladeshi politics was held at Istanbul Commerce University, organized by the Center for Political and Social Research (CPSR), a Dhaka-based think tank. The event brought together scholars, diplomats, and policymakers to discuss the country’s political transition. That such a meaningful conference took place in Türkiye symbolized the deep natural affinity between the two nations.

Türkiye today is home to a sizable Bangladeshi diaspora—particularly students who fled Hasina’s oppression. These young people are some of the brightest minds in the country: educated, hardworking, and ambitious. While attending events this week in Dhaka, I met many of them again—now active and energized in their homeland.

What struck me most at the April conference titled "Building Bangladesh 2.0 in the Spirit of the July Revolution"—organized in Istanbul by Bangladeshi students and academics—was how professionally executed it was, despite being driven by grassroots energy. The same spirit of capable, determined youth is on full display here in Dhaka. This is a generation that has already proven its strength and resolve by leading a revolution.

I’ll continue to share my reflections soon, inshaAllah.