• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5.

• Army chief General Waker-Us-Zaman said in a televised address that Hasina left the country and that an interim government would be formed.

• India has advised all its nationals to avoid travelling to Bangladesh until further notice due to ongoing violence.

• Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that began in July after student groups demanded scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs. That escalated into a campaign to seek the ouster of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.

• Thousands stormed Hasina’s official residence ‘Ganabhaban’ on August 5, shouting slogans, pumping fists and showing victory signs. 

• Student activists had called for a march to the capital Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew to press Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes across the country killed nearly 100 people. 

• About 150 people were killed in protests in July.

• The UN’s top human rights official called for an immediate stop to the violence in Bangladesh, which claimed scores of lives, including those of police officers, over the weekend.

What led to violent protests?

• Hasina, the 76-year-old daughter of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had been ruling the nation since 2009. 

• She was elected for a record fourth consecutive term and fifth overall term in the 12th general election held in January, amid a boycott by the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia and its allies.

• Rights groups have accused Hasina’s government of sidelining opposition parties and ruthlessly stamping out dissent during its 15-year tenure.

• In July, Bangladesh witnessed violent clashes between the police and mostly student protesters demanding an end to a controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.

• Critics argued the system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of PM  Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.

• The return of the quota, which had been scrapped in 2018, sparked anger among students.

• As demonstrations continued, there were eruptions of violence which led to death and the closure of public and private universities.

• The Supreme Court scaled back the quota system for government job applicants after it led to nationwide unrest and deadly clashes between police and protesters.

• The Supreme Court in its verdict ordered 93 per cent of the government jobs to be allocated on a merit-based system, leaving the remaining 7 per cent for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971 and other categories. 

• The demonstrations have grown into a wider anti-government movement across the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.

• It attracted people from all strata of Bangladesh society, including film stars, musicians and singers.

• Since then, more than 11,000 people have been arrested.

• On August 4, clashes erupted between protesters demanding PM Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh, forcing authorities to cut off mobile internet and enforce a nationwide curfew for an indefinite period.

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