Bangladesh Election 2026: One of the darkest moments in Bangladesh’s history came on August 15, 1975, when the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the father of Sheikh Hasina, were assassinated.
Bangladesh is heading into its first parliamentary election since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Polling is scheduled for February 12. The contest is expected to be dominated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, and a newly formed coalition called the “Like-minded 11 Parties”, led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizens Party. The Awami League, led by Hasina, has been barred from contesting elections.
The country has been governed by interim leader Muhammad Yunus amid widespread protests, political violence and unrest, which is a reminder that Bangladesh’s politics has long been shaped by trauma and upheaval rooted in earlier historical shocks.
The 1975 Coup That Shook Bangladesh
One of the darkest moments in Bangladesh’s history came on August 15, 1975, when the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the father of Sheikh Hasina, were assassinated in a military coup that changed the nation’s political course forever.
Weeks before the killings, in July 1975, Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana travelled to Germany, where Hasina’s husband, physicist MA Wazed Miah, was working. Members of the family gathered at the airport to see them off. Years later, Hasina recalled that moment, saying the entire family was present as she prepared to leave the country to join her husband abroad.
A month later, on August 15, armed Bangladesh Army personnel stormed Mujibur Rahman’s residence in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area. Mujibur Rahman, his wife, three sons and two daughters-in-law were killed. In total, 36 people were killed, making it one of the bloodiest coups in modern political history.
Following the massacre, Sheikh Hasina, along with her husband, children and her sister, sought refuge in India.
Political Changes After The Coup
The 1975 coup altered Bangladesh’s political trajectory. The assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, widely known as “Bangabandhu,” or Friend of Bengal, marked the beginning of a long period of military influence over the country’s governance. The years that followed were marked by repeated coups, counter-coups and intense power struggles within sections of the armed forces, creating deep political instability.
Indemnity Act And Protection For Killers
The period after the assassination was also shaped by controversial legal and constitutional steps. One of the most debated was the Indemnity Act, introduced after the killings. The law shielded those involved in the assassination from prosecution.
In the years following the coup, successive military-backed administrations were reported to have rewarded some of the accused killers with diplomatic assignments. Several were also later able to return to public life, with some forming political parties and contesting elections in the 1980s. For decades, the Indemnity Act blocked any legal action against those involved in the assassination.
It was only nearly 45 years later, in April 2020, that Bangladesh carried out the execution of one of the convicted killers.
