Hasina's ouster watershed moment for student activism in B'desh: Analysts

The recent student movement in Bangladesh, culminating in the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, marks a watershed moment in the nation's political landscape, fuelled by a 70-year legacy of student activism from the 1952 Language Movement to the Liberation War and beyond.

Political analysts and observers view the recent student protests, which many in Bangladesh have christened as the Bangla Spring taking a cue from the Arab Spring or the Monsoon Revolution, as a watershed moment in Bangladesh's political landscape, driven by the same spirit of activism that has characterised student movements in the country for over 70 years, even before its independence in 1971, when it was known as East Pakistan.

The latest movement, which began in July 2024, was sparked by the Court's decision to reinstate a controversial job quota system, a move that reignited long-standing frustrations among students and the general public.

The reinstatement of the job quota system, which had been ...