Hasina’s dramatic exit on Monday from the country she ruled for four terms – and was re-elected to a fifth in January – triggered jubilation and violence across Bangladesh, as crowds stormed and ransacked her official residence unopposed.
She fled to neighbouring India where she is taking shelter at an air base near the capital New Delhi.
Student protests against quotas for government jobs spiralled in July, killing about 300 people and injuring thousands, as demonstrations were met with a violent crackdown that was criticised internationally although the government denied using excessive force.
The protests were fuelled by tough economic conditions and political repression as well.
After years of strong growth as the garment industry expanded, the US$450 billion economy struggled with costly imports, inflation and unemployment and the government had sought a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Yunus and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Hasina’s main political opponent, called for calm and an end to violence on Wednesday.
“No destruction, revenge or vengeance,” said Hasina’s arch-rival and BNP leader Khaleda Zia, 78, in a video address from her hospital bed to hundreds of her supporters at a rally in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Zia, who was released from house arrest on Tuesday, and her exiled son Tarique Rahman, addressed the rally and called for national elections to be held within three months.
On Wednesday, a court overturned Yunus’ conviction in a labour case in which he was handed a six-month jail sentence in January. Yunus had called his prosecution political, part of a campaign by Hasina to quash dissent.
“Let us make the best use of our new victory,” Yunus said.
