Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmad on Wednesday drew a stark historical parallel in the National Parliament, equating the Awami League’s flight after the 2024 mass uprising with the Nazis’ retreat from Germany after World War II.
He declared that, just as the Nazis never regained political ground in Germany, the “fascist Awami forces” would never be allowed to return to politics in Bangladesh.
Speaking under Rule 300 of the Rules of Procedure on the third day of the fourth session of Parliament, chaired by Deputy Speaker Kaysar Kamal, the minister responded to earlier remarks by Leader of the Opposition Dr. Shafiqur Rahman (also amir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami) and the opposition chief whip on the country’s law-and-order situation.
His comments came as political temperatures rise over reports that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, living in exile in India since August 2024, is seeking to return as early as next month. Hasina, sentenced to death in absentia by a tribunal has applied for a new passport and is described by party sources as “confident” of returning in December.
Ahmad sharply criticised the opposition leader for what he called a unilateral and unconditional forgiveness of the banned Awami League. He recalled that on September 3, 2024, shortly after the fall of the previous regime, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman had announced in Dhaka that he had forgiven those who politically oppressed his party.
Later, on November 13, 2024, in London, the opposition leader reportedly said he did not like repeatedly calling them “fascists” because “they too are members of our family, of the political family.”
“After 15 and a half years of Awami League rule marked by torture and oppression, the opposition leader’s one-sided forgiveness without any remorse, repentance or apology is neither logical nor acceptable to the people of this country. We also do not find it acceptable,” the home minister told the House.
Turning to recent arson incidents, Ahmad linked them to what he described as the Awami League’s long-standing “political culture of arson terrorism.” He recounted the June 4, 2004, attack in Shahbagh during an Awami League hartal, in which a double-decker BRTC bus was set ablaze with gunpowder near the then Sheraton Hotel. At least 11 people were burned to death, with survivors and media images showing passengers clinging to window grills in desperation. He claimed a confession by Awami League presidium member Sheikh Selim remains available on YouTube from the period of the 2007–08 caretaker government.
Ahmad agreed with the opposition leader that recent instability involves “instigation from across the border.” He alleged that fugitive “fascist leader” Sheikh Hasina has been directing remaining leaders through repeated audio and video calls from India, instructing them to prepare lists of July Uprising participants, demolish their homes, and warning that she would “teach them a severe lesson” if she returned. “Perhaps Almighty Allah will never give her that opportunity,” he said.
The minister’s strongest language came in the Nazi analogy: “The way an entire party has fled can only be compared in world history with the flight of Hitler’s Nazi forces from Germany. Just as the Nazis could never return to Germany or engage in politics again, the fascist Awami force that fled in the mass uprising will never be able to return to Bangladesh.”
He called for national unity among the ruling party, opposition and other forces to prevent any destabilisation or the return of what he termed fallen fascist forces, while insisting law-enforcement agencies would operate within the bounds of human rights. The government has repeatedly stated that Hasina would be arrested immediately upon any return to face the existing death sentence, and that the political future of the Awami League should be determined through judicial processes rather than executive order. The party’s activities remain banned, and officials say anyone linked to it who returns will be taken into custody.
The remarks have further intensified the political atmosphere as December approaches and speculation about Hasina’s possible return continues to circulate.