POBNEWS24, Desk report Dhaka June 6, 2025 : Obaidul Quader, who has been discussed and criticized in Bangladeshi politics, has now opened his mouth after hiding for a long time. In an interview with BBC Bangla, Mr. Quader claimed to still be the general secretary of the Awami League, which is practically banned in Bangladesh.
He has started speaking from Kolkata, the neighboring country of India.
Mr. Quader claimed that he changed his residence and went into hiding for three months after the fall of the Awami League regime in the July mass uprising; finally, after three months, he left the country safely in November last year.
According to the Health Department, the ousted Awami League and its leadership have no remorse for the allegations of more than 800 killings and repression during that student-public movement. There are no visible signs of them apologizing or admitting their mistakes. There are various discussions in the country’s politics about this.
Obaidul Quader told BBC Bangla that when they come back to the country and find an environment to carry out political activities, they will have to apologize, admit their mistakes or regret.
He mentioned that the students also discussed some of their mistakes and the situation in that movement.
Mr. Quader’s statement indicates that they have to think about the reality or the situation.
At the same time, he said that it would not be correct to call the movement to overthrow their government a ‘mass uprising’. It has resulted in the rise of ‘communal forces’.
In his statement, it can be said that the ousted Awami League leadership, which has been giving the narrative or explanation about the July-August movement since the beginning, is still in the ‘conspiracy theory’.
Sheikh Hasina left for India on August 5 last year, the day the Awami League regime fell. A large part of the party’s and their government’s ministers, parliamentarians or leaders fled to various countries including India, the United States.
But there was a mystery and many discussions about Obaidul Quader’s whereabouts. Because he had not spoken to any media in the last nine and a half months.
However, until the day before the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime, Mr. Quader used to hold press conferences almost every day and make statements in favor of the party and the government. It is alleged that Mr. Quader’s statements at that time on the issue of bringing the Awami League and Chhatra League into the field to suppress the movement increased the tension.
There were various discussions and criticisms surrounding him within the Awami League as well.
Finally, after nine and a half months, Obaidul Quader is speaking to the media. Mr. Quader spoke to the BBC about how he had been until now, when he left the country, and where and how he is now.
Did he have a glimpse of the fall?
Obaidul Quader said that on August 5, Obaidul Quader was at his official residence in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area.
He lived in that official house as the road transport minister of the ousted Awami League government.
Mr. Quader mentioned that when he received the news of the Dhaka-bound procession that day, he took shelter in another house in the Parliament Building area.
“I was at my house, in the Parliament Building area. When the procession was coming from different directions towards Dhaka city. They had an aggressive attitude in the procession. When they were moving towards Dhaka city with sticks and sticks, I understood the hatred among them,” said Obaidul Quader.
The fact that he had to move away from his house after seeing the situation on the road is clear from Mr. Quader’s words.
At one point, he learned that Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman would be addressing the radio and television.
“After receiving that news, I did not have the opportunity to go out. I took shelter in another house in the Parliament Building area,” said Mr. Quader.
The protesters took shelter in the bathroom, saved their lives – Quader’s claim
When Mr. Quader took shelter in another house in the Parliament Building area, his wife was with him. At one point, that house was also attacked. Then he and his wife took refuge in the bathroom.
Although Obaidul Quader had not responded since the fall of the Awami League, various stories were in the news about him.
Now Mr. Quader has told the BBC about his escape from the bathroom that day.
He said, “I was a little helpless and took refuge in the bathroom. I had to stay there for a long time.
“At one stage, those who came to attack our house in the name of the anti-discrimination student movement, many of them were vandalizing and looting. It was a horrible situation,” says Mr. Quader.
Describing the incident, he also said, “When they looted everything in the house, my wife kept telling them that I was sick. At first, they believed the matter and did not move forward.”
“But in the end, what I saw in reality was that the commode and basin inside were their target. That’s why they were trying to force their way in. So my wife asked me what to do? I said, open it.”
‘I was speechless then, I didn’t say anything’
In Mr. Quader’s description, “As soon as I opened the bathroom door, I ran out. Many people came in. They suddenly looked at me – I saw their eyes filled with surprise. They looked at me in surprise.”
“They asked me, your Prime Minister has left, haven’t you? I was speechless then. I didn’t say anything.”
Mr. Quader claims, “At one point, I saw a division among them. One group was saying, no, let’s hand him over to the public. On the other hand, some were saying, let’s hand him over to the army.
“At one point, I noticed the superiority of those who wanted to protect me and they won in the end,” said Mr. Quader.
There was no contact with anyone
After August 5, various reports were being published about the escape or arrest of leaders at various levels of the Awami League.
But no accurate information was available anywhere about Obaidul Quader. Other leaders of the party, who were based in various countries including India, could not provide any accurate information about him.
Mr. Quader also says that before going to India, he had no contact with their party leader Sheikh Hasina or anyone else.
“There was no contact. I did not try to contact them from there. At that time, I was actually concerned that search operations were going on in different places to catch me.”
“I had to change my residence repeatedly. There is a risk of arrest there,” said Mr. Quader.
He also said, “I have to take many medicines. I had a bypass surgery. That is why it was not possible for me to take this risk at that time. Many people asked me to leave the country from the beginning. But I tried to stay in the country.”
“But in the end, I did not try to take any more risks because of the searches here and there. I was forced to leave the country,” claimed Mr. Quader.
Mr. Quader stated that there has been no change in the leadership of the banned Awami League.
He claimed, “I am still the general secretary of the party. In our party, the leadership changes in the council every three years. I have a term until next December. I have now started talking as the general secretary.”
‘I had no idea about taking refuge in the cantonment’
On August 5, Supreme Court judges, the Speaker of Parliament and ministers of the Awami League government, many MPs and many people from various forces including the police took refuge in various cantonments across the country, including Dhaka.
There were discussions and rumors that Obaidul Quader had also taken refuge in one of the cantonments across the country.
A list of 626 people who took refuge at that time was recently published by the army. However, Obaidul Quader’s name is not on that list.
Mr. Quader claimed that he had no idea about taking refuge in the cantonment.
He said, “I had no idea that I would have to take shelter in the cantonment. At that time, I took shelter in a private house. I changed for the first two days. I did not think that I would have to go to the cantonment and take shelter.”
When did you realize the situation?
On the night before August 5, on August 4, a high-level meeting of the government was held under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Various forces gave hints of that political change, there are various such discussions in Bangladeshi politics.
In fact, what hint was given in that meeting, when did they realize that the situation was leading to their downfall?
When asked about this, Obaidul Quader said, “There was definitely a hint. However, there were different opinions about it from different people. The law enforcement agencies, the army, then the civil bureaucracy, our party’s MPs, ministers, many others, were there about what kind of situation it was actually creating. There were discussions about such matters.”
“However, the way an explosion-like situation was created on August 5th, in a very organized way, was not thought out in that way. I think intelligence was not able to understand this reality properly,” said Mr. Quader.
His words brought up the issue of intelligence shortage.
So was there a shortage of intelligence, was there a failure to consider the situation – whether it was reviewed – in Obaidul Quader’s response to these questions, the Awami League’s long-standing ‘conspiracy theory’ position emerged.
He said, “It would not be correct to call it a mass uprising at all. It is actually in the name of the anti-discrimination student movement, which can be called the rise of communal, far-right forces in Bangladesh.”
“Because many of them wanted to take revenge for the defeat of 1971. Then, when many of them started carrying out activities, they may have been away from open politics and many of them were religious communal extremist forces. This uprising was mainly fueled by them and with their participation.”
At the same time, he said, “It’s not that we couldn’t feel the situation. But we couldn’t think that it would go to the stage of the government’s collapse.”
Mr. Quader, however, claims that they are now reviewing it.
“Discussions are taking place among ourselves. There are talks, practices, thoughts, and mistakes are also analyzed in discussions among ourselves. However, we are now trying to learn from our mistakes and reorganize ourselves.”
How were decisions made to suppress the movement?
On the one hand, there was an attempt to suppress the movement with the forces, while on the other hand, the organizations including the Awami League and Chhatra League took to the field.
On the question of how these decisions were taken, Obaidul Quader has placed the responsibility of using the forces on the Home Ministry.
He said, “Look, the law enforcement agencies work under the Home Minister. And we, as a party – our main party, associate organizations – have carefully instructed our leaders and activists to be organized and ready in different places.”
“There have been repeated attempts to attack our party here. At this time, we have asked our party to be on high alert. If there is an attack, we have to be ready,” claimed Mr. Quader.
Will he apologize?
According to UN statistics, at least 1,400 people have been killed in the student-public movement from early July last year to August 15.
According to the Bangladesh government’s Department of Health, 834 people have been killed as of August 5.
