Bharat SainiLast Updated on February 22, 2019 by Bharat Saini
Sheikh Hasina, known as Bangladesh’s “Mother of Humanity”, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the fourth time after her Awami League’s crushing election victory (securing 288 seats in the 300-seat parliament compared to just seven for the main opposition), marred by deadly violence and claims of widespread rigging. President Abdul Hamid administered the oath to Hasina on Monday 7 January 2018 at 3 pm at the Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban.
Sheikh Hasina, 71, was abroad in August 1975 when a group of renegade military officers assassinated her father, Bangladesh’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his wife and three sons.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly dubbed with the title of Bangabandhu or Friend of Bengal, the driving force behind the independence of Bangladesh, is the founding father of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. He served as the first President and later as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 17 April, 1971 until his assassination on 15 August, 1975.
Sheikh Hasina has presided over record economic growth in the South Asian country of 165 million people but critics have accused her of creeping authoritarianism.
- Hasina started her political career as a hero of the people, returning from exile in 1981 to take over as Awami League leader and beginning a long struggle to restore democracy in Bangladesh.
- Hasina was first elected prime minister in 1996 but she struggled to emerge from the shadow of her father during her first term and lost the 2001 contest.
- Hasina returned to power after winning December 2008 polls by landslide, just months after she was imprisoned by a military-backed government on corruption charges.
- Hasina assumed the position of the Prime Minister on 6 January 2009 and has been in power ever since, as
- She took oath again as the Prime Minister for the third time on 12 January 2014.
- Hasina has presided over economic expansion of more than 6% every year since 2009.
- GDP growth last year was 7.86% per cent and
- Hasina has promised to take that into double digits.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his “heartiest” congratulations over telephone to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday 31 December 2018 on the “decisive” result of Bangladesh elections held on 30 December, “He expressed confidence that the partnership between India and Bangladesh will continue to flourish under her far-sighted leadership. PM also reiterated the priority India attaches to Bangladesh as a neighbour, a close partner for regional development, security and cooperation, and a central pillar in India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy”. “India warmly congratulates the people of Bangladesh for reaffirming their faith in democracy, development and the vision of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”
