A student-led movement that began over a dispute on government job quotas rapidly transformed into a nationwide uprising, culminating in the resignation of a long-serving prime minister and a profound shift in Bangladesh's political landscape. The 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement, which started as a call for merit-based hiring, escalated into violent clashes and ultimately led to the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, leaving a new interim administration to grapple with its volatile aftermath.
The unrest was reignited in early June 2024 after a High Court decision on June 5 reinstated a contentious 30% quota in government jobs reserved for the descendants of freedom fighters from the 1971 Liberation War. This ruling overturned a 2018 decision by Sheikh Hasina's own government, which had suspended the quota system following similar student protests. Students, arguing the system limited opportunities for candidates based on merit, organized under the banner of the "Boishommobirodhi Chhatra Andolon" (Anti-Discrimination Student Movement) and demanded a complete overhaul of the policy.
What began as peaceful campus demonstrations escalated dramatically by mid-July. Protests spread across the country, leading to violent confrontations between demonstrators, law enforcement, and pro-government activists. According to initial reports, the clashes resulted in over 100 injuries and a rising death toll. In response to the growing unrest, the government imposed curfews, deployed military personnel, and implemented widespread internet blackouts in an attempt to suppress the movement.
In a bid to de-escalate the crisis, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh intervened on July 21, scrapping most of the government job quotas and ruling that 93% of positions should be filled based on merit. However, this concession failed to pacify the protesters. Fueled by the government's violent crackdown and the effective use of social media to organize, the movement's demands broadened to include the release of detained student leaders, restoration of internet services, and accountability for the violence. Ultimately, the calls for reform coalesced into a single, powerful demand: the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The political crisis reached its zenith on August 5, 2024, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country for exile in India. Her departure marked the end of a 15-year tenure and paved the way for an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, tasked with restoring order and guiding the nation toward new elections.
The full scale of the crackdown's human cost became clearer in the following months. The United Nations human rights office released a report estimating that as many as 1,400 people were killed during the government's three-week response to the protests. In the wake of these revelations, the interim government has launched investigations into the alleged human rights violations. In a dramatic development, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal announced it was seeking the death penalty for former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, over alleged crimes against humanity committed during the protests. As the interim government works to implement reforms and ensure justice, the legacy of the student-led movement continues to shape the future of Bangladesh.