Hasina shifts stance, now says US did not engineer her removal

Around 15 months after the fall of her government, ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said she no longer believes the United States or other Western powers played a direct role in her removal from office, marking a sharp shift from her earlier claims that Washington was behind her downfall.

Hasina made the remarks in recent interviews with NDTV and CNN-News18, where she rejected suggestions that foreign-backed groups had influenced last year's political transition.

She said she had "seen no decisive evidence" of external involvement in the events surrounding her ouster, NDTV reports.

She told NDTV that people in American political circles had long admired Muhammad Yunus for his economic achievements but had "erroneously equated these with political prowess".

According to her, his actions in government had since altered how he was perceived, and she said Yunus was "no longer so popular amongst Western liberals".

Speaking to CNN-News18, Hasina again said she did not believe the United States or any other Western country had a direct role in the July Uprising.

She described Bangladesh's relationship with the United States as "good and stable", adding that claims of direct interference were not credible.

She also said her relationship with Donald Trump during his first term as US president had been good.

Hasina's latest remarks stand in contrast to her comments immediately after the collapse of her government.

In early August 2024, a leaked statement circulating in sections of the media showed her blaming the United States for Bangladesh's crisis.

In that statement, she reportedly suggested that the situation would have been different had she handed over the St Martin's to the US.

Others close to her government also made similar allegations at the time.

Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, a co-defendant in Hasina's crimes against humanity case at the International Crimes Tribunal, claimed in his recent book that the US Central Intelligence Agency was behind her removal.

He alleged that the then army chief had acted as a CIA agent and that Washington sought to destabilise South Asia by removing leaders such as Hasina, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping.

Hasina's recent interviews, however, reflect a notably different tone, moving away from claims of foreign involvement and suggesting that earlier assumptions were shaped by misperceptions surrounding Yunus's international standing.