We must never forget what led to the July mass uprising
This opinion article by economics professor M. Niaz Asadullah, published in The Daily Star on August 5, 2026 — the second anniversary of the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government — analyzes the root causes of Bangladesh's July 2024 mass uprising. The author argues that Hasina's government collapsed because its development-based political bargain broke down: while economic growth had previously justified reduced political freedoms, rising inflation, banking instability, youth unemployment, and a disputed public-sector job quota system ultimately united educated young people with broader public anger against the regime. The article warns that the newly elected BNP government risks repeating history by already showing signs of replacing Hasina's patronage networks with its own, and concludes that truly honoring the July uprising requires building a genuinely merit-based, accountable state rather than simply swapping one set of political loyalists for another. Main topics covered: The political-economic conditions that led to the July 2024 uprising The role of the job quota dispute and youth unemployment as catalysts State repression and its role in delegitimizing Hasina's government Early warning signs that the new BNP government may be repeating past mistakes
- Attribution
- The Daily Star
- Publisher
- The Daily Star
- Rights
- Rights retained by the original publisher. Archived as a preservation copy for public research, with attribution and a link to the original.
- Persistent ID
- ark:/19160/seuvszkmz3jd7rae52qxa2nknya
Cite this source
The Daily Star. "We must never forget what led to the July mass uprising." The Daily Star, 2026. July Archive. https://julyarchive.org/sources/we-must-never-forget-what-led-to-the-july-mass-uprising-252b2ca9.
Persistent identifier: ark:/19160/seuvszkmz3jd7rae52qxa2nknya
Free to use with due credit — please cite the attribution above.