‘Anti-liberation forces trying to destroy Bangladesh’s secular culture’

dhaka: Bangladesh’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that anti-independence forces have illegally seized power and were actively trying to destroy the country’s secular culture as she urged people to drive the usurpers out.

“Today, anti-liberation forces have illegally seized power in Bangladesh. They are actively trying to destroy Bengali culture,” the 77-year-old self-exiled ousted premier said in a statement on the occasion of Bengali New Year- Pohela Boishakh.

Hasina left Bangladesh in August last year after her nearly 16-year-long Awami League government was toppled in a student-led uprising.

“Whenever anti-independence forces gained control in the past, they attacked the nation’s history, heritage, and culture. They not only tried to stop the Mangal Shobhajatra but even attempted to change its name,” Hasina said.

Hasina, who now lives in India, said that those who now run Bangladesh are “enemies of the nation” and “enemies of our culture”. “Let us drive out the anti-liberation and anti-culture forces,” she said.