Sheikh Hasina wanted to remain in power by force till the very last moment

At one point Sheikh Hasina said, indicating the IGP, they (the police) are doing well. The IGP then said, the situation has reached a point where even the police will no longer be able to hold on to such a stern stance.

The top officials tried to explain to her that it will no longer be possible for the situation to be controlled by force. But Sheikh Hasina was unwilling to accept that. The officials then spoke to Sheikh Rehana in a separate room. They explained the situation to her and asked her to convince Sheikh Hasina. Sheikh Rehana then talked to Sheikh Hasina, but she was determined to hold on to power. Then at one point, one of the top officers called Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who was abroad. Joy then spoke over phone to his mother. After that Sheikh Hasina agreed to resign. She then wanted to record a speech addressed to the nation.

By then intelligence reports had come in that huge numbers of students had started their march from Shahbagh and Uttara. Given the distance, it was estimated that it would take 45 minutes for the demonstrators to reach Ganabhaban from Shahbagh. There may not be enough time to record a speech. Taking that into consideration, Sheikh Hasina was not given time to record any speech but to get prepared to leave within 45 minutes.

After that Sheikh Hasina and sister Sheikh Rehana came to the helipad of the old airport in Tejgaon. Some luggage of theirs was loaded and they then went to Bangabhaban. Sheikh Hasina carried out her resignation formalities there and at around 2:30om Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister left by military helicopter for India.

After entering Indian airspace, the helicopter circled for some time and later landed at a BSF helipad in Agartala. Indian media reported that she went to Delhi from there.

A report of India today said that at 5:36pm local time Sheikh Hasina landed at the Indian military airbase in Hindon at Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh). She was received there by an Indian army officer. She may go on to London from there, it was learnt.

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina was sworn as prime minister for the fourth consecutive time on 11 January this year. In 1996 she became prime minister through the seventh national parliament elections. When BNP won the elections in 2001, Awami League became the opposition and Sheikh Hasina was the leader of the opposition in parliament.

Then winning the elections in 2008, held under a caretaker government, Sheikh Hasina became prime minister again. After five years she held a one-sided election in 2014, in which 153 candidates became members of parliament uncontested. The opposition did not take part in that election (to the 10th parliament). Sheikh Hasina and her alliance partners formed the government. Through the controversial 2018 election she became prime minister once again. There were widespread allegations of the votes being cast on the night before of the election and so it was dubbed as the “night election”.

The opposition did not take part in the 12th parliamentary election of January this year. Fielding her own party leaders as independent candidates, by means of a “dummy” contest she became prime minister yet again. The opposition dubbed this election as a “dummy election”. Then in this span of seven months, in face of the student movement and mass agitation, Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country by helicopter.