Picture ANI/X ( File)
A sudden announcement by the former ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vow to return to Bangladesh has raised the prospect of a dramatic comeback for her and the party, Awami League. Hasina currently faces a death sentence in Bangladesh. Her potential return could revive the rivalry between the banned party and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Hasina has been living in India since her government was toppled by a student-led protest movement nearly two years ago, has said she plans to return home in December even if she is arrested or killed. The 78-year-old was sentenced to death in November 2025, after a tribunal found her guilty of incitement, issuing kill orders and failing to stop atrocities linked to the protest movement. Up to 1,400 people were killed in clashes with security forces.
A defining moment for Bangladesh’s democracy may be approaching.
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced that she will return to Bangladesh this December from exile in India, despite facing serious charges. In an interview with @Reuters, she declared: “They may arrest… pic.twitter.com/yYpfTrXRyh
— Bangladesh Awami League (@albd1971) July 13, 2026
After February’s general election, BNP became the largest majority party. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman took to power while Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist political party, secured the second-most seats. Seeing the Jamaat’s rising clout among voters, BNP would prefer to have the Awami League as its main political rival at the polls than the Jamaat, whose radical ideology could transform the country’s politics if it were to gain further ground. Bangladesh’s political landscape has been dominated by the BNP and the Awami League for decades, with Jamaat gaining ground in the past two years following Hasina’s exit. Despite Jamaat’s ascendancy, student leaders who formed the National Citizens Party and entered into a pre-poll alliance with the Islamist party were more focused on improving governance.
However, Bangladesh’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam told reporters earlier this week that Hasina would be arrested upon her return from her self-exile. Though many important leaders of Awami League have already fled the country, Hasina could face a lengthy and arduous legal battle to protect herself from the radicalists and rebuild the Awami League for its future or else the party with a legacy will die a natural death.
