Sheikh Hasina to hold presser on August 5, a month before Tarique Rahman’s expected visit
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| Photo Credit: AFP
A month before the expected visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman for the India-chaired BRICS summit, the country’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club in New Delhi on Wednesday (August 5, 2026), the second anniversary of her arrival in India following the monsoon uprising of 2024 in Dhaka.The media interaction will be addressed by Ms. Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and the former Education Minister of Bangladesh, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel.“In this exclusive engagement, Sheikh Hasina will address the international media virtually to announce her homecoming and outline her vision for Bangladesh. The session will also feature senior leaders of the Bangladesh Awami League and former Ministers, participating both in person and virtually, followed by an interactive Q&A,” said Waiel Awwad, president of the club.India has invited Prime Minister Rahman to attend the BRICS summit. Mr. Rahman, who was sworn in on February 17, 2026, after his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landslide victory in the election, is yet to acknowledge the invitation.Ms. Hasina – who has been based here since fleeing Dhaka on August 5, 2024 – has recently given interviews to global media outlets, recollecting her experience of returning to Bangladesh on May 17, 1981, ending six years of exile that followed the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975. In her latest interview, given to AFP on July 29, she reiterated her plans to go home and said, “I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison. I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me.”Responding to reports of Ms. Hasina’s plans to return to Bangladesh this December, the BNP government’s Deputy Minister for Liberation War Affairs Ishraque Hossain termed the announcements a “political gimmick”.“Sheikh Hasina is talking about returning to the country in December only to boost the morale of her party workers. It is nothing but a political stunt,” Mr. Hossain said on Saturday.The interim government led by Mohammed Yunus, which was in power between August 2024 and February 2026, had banned the Awami League’s political activities and its student wing Chhatra League. The BNP-dominated Bangladesh parliament formalised the ban through an amendment to an anti-terrorism law this April.On Sunday (August 2, 2026), Ms. Hasina received support from her long-time critic-author, Taslima Nasreen, who addressed a press conference in Kolkata. Ms. Nasreen supported Ms. Hasina’s right to return to the political space in Bangladesh. Known for her books Lajja and My Girlhood, the writer urged “progressive people” in Bangladesh to pressure the Tarique Rahman government to lift the ban on Awami League.“The Yunus government’s banning of the Awami League was absolutely not a right move. I want the ban on the Awami League lifted without delay. Its leaders and party workers should return to the country. Lots of Awami League leaders and workers have been killed. Progressive people of Bangladesh should pressurise Tarique Rahman to lift the ban on the Awami League,” said Ms. Nasreen, who also criticised Ms. Hasina for being soft on religious fundamentalists during her 15-year-long tenure. Published - August 02, 2026 10:28 pm IST
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