Staff Correspondent

Acknowledging that his mother and ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government made mistakes in handling the student protests in Bangladesh, Sajeeb Wazed Joy said the government should have engaged with the protesters from the very beginning and spoken out against the quotas much earlier.

“I believe our government should have spoken out against the quotas and met with the protesters from the beginning instead of leaving it to the courts… Our government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to reduce the quotas. I recommended we take a public stance, stating the court made a mistake and we don’t want the quotas. But our government chose not to, expecting the judicial system to handle it,” Joy told The Indian Express in a video interview from Washington DC.

Joy, who was Hasina’s IT adviser, reiterated a foreign intelligence agency was behind the violent turn the protests took.

“I firmly believe that a foreign intelligence agency was involved, especially because many of the demonstrators, starting from July 15, were armed with firearms. Firearms are very difficult to obtain in Bangladesh due to our successful control of militancy over the last 15 years. The only organization capable of smuggling firearms into the country and supplying them to demonstrators would be a foreign intelligence agency,” he said.

Describing the events of the 24 hours leading up to his mother’s departure from Bangladesh on August 5, Joy said even a day before the situation spiraled out of control, neither he nor Hasina anticipated how rapidly it would deteriorate.

“She (Hasina) had no intention of leaving the country. She was going to resign, submit a resignation to the President and announce it in a public statement. I believe she was drafting the statement and preparing to record an interview. Everything was planned. In fact, she was about to start recording when the special security said, ‘Ma’am, there’s no time. We have to go now’,” according to Joy.

Joy said Hasina was adamant about not leaving but he convinced her to do so. “The special security force took her to a safe location inside the military air base, they had a helicopter ready for her, but she did not wish to go… that’s when my aunt (Sheikh Rehana Siddiq) called me. I convinced my mother that no, for your safety you have to leave. If this mob finds you, catches up with you somewhere and there’s a shooting, lots of people will die. Either you’ll get blamed or, if they catch you, they will kill you. So your best option is to leave the country. And I’m the one who convinced her to leave,” he said.

Asked what his message to India would be, he said he would urge New Delhi to take a leadership role and ensure the Constitution of Bangladesh is upheld.

“…especially this being on India’s doorstep… I would hope India would ensure that elections are held within the constitutional timeframe of 90 days, that the mob rule is stopped and that the Awami League is allowed to campaign and reorganize. If that is ensured, I’m still confident that we will win the election… We still remain the most popular party,” Joy said.