Throughout history, many nations have gone through uprisings that were propagated through its young population, having a closer observation will reveal that most of them were led by students since they personify the beating heart of the nation. 

Driven by their unfiltered emotion and a stark ambition not yet bulldozed by the compromises of an incumbent, the youth time and time again have proven that they are willing to sacrifice it all for the greater good. In 2024, Bangladesh itself was a witness to such an effort. Though, started with a rational discussion about the quota system affiliated with government jobs, it quickly escalated through politically driven remarks and improper application of force. 

Sheikh Hasina with all her bureaucracy and the might of the police finally faced the imaginary gallows of irrelevance as she swiftly exited her throne without facing the justice she shamelessly touted of upholding for 17 years. Now that some time has passed, it is important to look beyond the past and evaluate the current standing of the nation and what we have accomplished in the last one year.

The call for Bangladesh 2.0 

Since her outset, the conversations all centred around building a new Bangladesh, a Bangladesh where no one could again swallow up power in the name of one identity or ideology. In building Bangladesh, the people associated with the movement started to call for reforms, reforms that the nation felt it needed badly. In response to this, the conversation around building a newer Bangladesh started to propagate through the masses. We will further discuss how this may not have been most favourable to some old guards of Bangladesh politics, as they might have seen it as a direct insult to what they have contributed in Bangladesh coming this far. The rift, although small, started to appear as the old incumbents proudly touted the glories of 1971 and thought glorifying 2024 is a direct threat to 1971’s place in history, such as the story of broken politics of any third world nation. 

In an effort to find the sectors that reform the current interim government enacted reform commissions to look into separate sectors of the constitution, judiciary, police, bureaucracy, elections, and others. At first, the validity of such a commission was questioned by the old guard, but the public sentiment appears to have been in favour of it, so they reluctantly soaked in the sentiment of the new establishment. However, they too played a hand in exerting their existence and justifying it through the benevolent call for elections because they used the theory of democracy as the principle to solve all issues at hand. 

Challenges faced by the changemakers 

After the Bolshevik revolution, Lenin famously wrote that the revolution in the soviet union was as easy as “lifting a feather.” He meant it to express the discontent the wider people had against the Czar and its nobility, for which revolt was an inevitability. The nation builds up its saviours in times of need. Such was the case for the unified leadership of the July movement. Cancelling one leader did not mean the end, and threatening another couldn’t deter the others, as the movement itself was faceless yet full of rationale and virtue.

However, while standing on the same stage beside Bill Clinton and other Washington bigshots, our Nobel laureate famously dubbed one of the leaders as the “brains behind the uprising.” The validity of this can be a matter of debate for the next generation, but it is quite unclear that martyrs like Abu Sayed or Mugdho could care to know who and how their lives are being wielded to liberate Bangladesh. 

Finding it to be a bit insulting, the old guards again started to express their discontent with the so-called “brains behind the operation” and even the “brains behind the operations” made some remarks in the press that truly put in doubt whether he has one or not. Then there came the question of the reports of the reform commission. At the time of this writing, most of the nitty gritties are being argued upon by the political elite in the extravagant lunches at the Chief Advisor’s residence. Almost all of the parties, no matter how irrelevant they are to Bangladeshi politics, are joining the sessions with full blown optimism as they get to justify their existence and role in shaping the Bangladesh of the future. 

We have seen some outrage from the soft white underbelly of Bangladesh, known to us all as religious fundamentalists. They do not believe in any of the recommendations made by the Women’s reform commission as this goes against their religious belief. At the time of international outrage against Israel and the role of the west, similar sentiments are easily penetrable in the hearts of the gullible public. Whatever the politics of the changemakers may be (until now it is still not clear) it seems they do not want to anger the fanatics, so as of now, they are quiet. Whatever the views, there is a question about the practicality of those reforms. Many of these seem to be direct copy and pasted suggestions one might get when asking Google how to liberate women in a conservative society, very little effort seems to be made into making such recommendations palatable and applicable in the context of the current socio-economic and cultural norms. 

Now comes the question of the bureaucracy. If there is still a reminiscence of Sheikh Hasina’s fingerprints, it is the bureaucracy. Mostly stale and with an insatiable appetite for power, these high level servants of the Bangladesh government often view themselves as the de facto rulers of the nations. Prime Ministers come and go, but they are the only constant. Therefore, it is no wonder that any effort to modernise and ensure accountability will be met with stark resistance from the bureaucracy. This expected scene was witnessed by the entire populus when an ordinance was introduced to ensure accountability and with harsher punishments for a lack of cooperation, i.e not doing the thing you are paid tax money to do, the entire secretariat burst into chaos. 

The Public Service (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, issued on 25 May, allowed the termination of government employees for four types of disciplinary offences through a show-cause notice, bypassing departmental proceedings. Secretariat employees had been protesting the ordinance since its drafting stage. After it was issued, they held rallies and short work stoppages, later submitting a memorandum to the advisers of the interim government. Following discussions with employee representatives, a review committee was formed on 4 June, led by the law adviser. While the committee has held two meetings, no recommendation has yet been submitted. On Tuesday (24 June), they resumed normal official duties but continued public outreach activities to build broader support for their cause. As of now, they have halted their protest as they are expecting a ‘compromise’ promised by the government. As a result yet again, ensuring transparency and accountability as like any other job was swiftly denied by the true power brokers of the nation. 

Another example of such blatant power hungry behaviour was the strikes against the division of the NBR. The real trouble began when NBR officers felt sidelined from the separation process. They allege the current NBR chairman and the finance adviser shaped the ordinance to favour administration cadre interests. In protest, NBR officials launched a pen-down movement on 14 May, later warning of disruptions to import-export operations. The government initially softened its stance, with the finance ministry declaring on 25 May that the NBR would instead be elevated to a specialised division under its oversight. This issue too is on hold at the time of writing and the government is expected to soften its stance once again so that the bureaucracy is satisfied. 

The behavior of the masses 

We as a nation, time and time again had to give our lives to ensure fundamental freedoms. However, after the chaos dies down, we somehow forget where we stood moments ago. This dementia devoid of morale and lack of consciousness showed its true colours through the continuous protests of various groups time and time again. The Chief Advisor’s residents have been the witness to protests from the HSC candidates expecting auto promotions to even primary school teachers boycotting their screening and selection process. The nation lost count of its protests and causes, and it has seemed that freedom of speech has reached a newer height and turned into the freedom of entitlement. Much like the bloated obscure bureaucracy, the blatant shamelessness of particular groups calling for entitlements have risen exponentially. The unity related to nation building or even the collective consciousness of the social fabric has unfortunately been missing in the last one year. Maybe it had already been ruined by the 54 years of mismanagement and a lack of institutional autonomy because as history lies witness, sucking up to power had always had its benefits in Bangladeshi society, and when persuasion doesn’t fly, chaos does, and in doing so, there is no scope for considering the greater good. 

A reflection and the need to evolve 

The last year saw a united front against autocracy breaking down into different fractions, such as the nature of any pluralistic nation. However, the extent to which the country still struggles to agree on its fundamental directions still haunts the conscious population. The fact that our bureaucracy is yet to come out of the colonial mindset, the fact that the old guards still find it hard to evolve their views, and reversely the lack of direction in the changemakers are all indicators that we could all have done much better. Much better in focusing on the real task at hand, and that was to rebuild, not fight for whatever influence. The political class has forgotten that there’s no place for them if they fail to exercise the burning fire lit in July 2024, just as there was no place in Bangladesh of BAL as they not only failed to keep alive the fire of 1971 rather try to put it out with outdated rhetoric and self centeredness.