Sheikh Hasina Condemns Destruction of Father's Historic Home in Emotional Address

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered an emotional message Wednesday after protesters vandalized and set fire to her father's historic residence in Dhaka, declaring that while her opponents "can erase the structure, they cannot wipe out history."

The attack occurred during Hasina's live online address to supporters through the Awami League's former student wing, Chhatra League. Thousands of protesters gathered outside the building in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area following social media calls for a "Bulldozer Procession."

The targeted building, known as the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, holds profound historical significance as the residence where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father, led much of the country's pre-independence movement. Hasina and her sister had previously donated the ancestral property to a trust for public use.

"Why do they fear a house?" Hasina asked during her tearful address, broadcast on the Awami League's Facebook account. "The only memory that both my sister and I have clung to is being wiped out... I want to ask my people who is behind this. I want justice."

This marks the second attack on the property in recent months. The first occurred on August 5 when student-led protests ended Hasina's 16-year tenure, prompting her and her sister Sheikh Rehana to secretly flee to India on a Bangladesh Air Force flight.

During her address, Hasina directly accused Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus's current government, installed by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, of orchestrating a plot against her family. She alleged that Yunus had misappropriated 400 crore Bangladeshi taka in government funding provided to his Grameen Bank during her administration.

The political crisis has deeper implications for Bangladesh's national identity. The student movement has promised to scrap the country's 1972 Constitution, which they term the "Mujibist constitution," while some far-right groups have suggested changing the national anthem adopted by Sheikh Mujib's post-independence government.

Hasina called for resistance against the current regime while also appealing to student protesters. "They are yet to have the strength to destroy the national flag, the constitution and the independence that we earned at the cost of the lives of millions of martyrs with a bulldozer," she stated, while urging students to return to their studies, suggesting they were being manipulated for political purposes.

The incident highlights the ongoing political turbulence in Bangladesh as the country grapples with its most significant leadership change in nearly two decades.