Few people, including former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself, would have expected that a minor protest in Dhaka would snowball to such an extent that it would topple the Awami League. However, there was one astrologer who had predicted last year that Hasina's government needs "to be careful".
Dramatic scenes in Bangladesh showed Bangladesh plunged into complete chaos as massive protests in the country, initially against the controversial quota system in government jobs, spiralled into a broader agitation against the Awami League government after Hasina's 'razakar' remarks and the harsh police crackdown on protesters. The widespread protests, in the shadow of police firings, mob violence and clashes, forced Hasina to resign and flee the country.
Few would have seen such a turbulent end to Hasina's 15-year-old reign, but astrologer Prashanth Kini had already predicted that the 76-year-old former PM "needs to be careful" in the months of May to August 2024, saying she may face "assassination attempts". Notably, Hasina's official residence was stormed into by hundreds of protesters who vandalised and looted the premises on Monday.
Retweeting his post on X, Kini asserted that he had already predicted the downfall of Sheikh Hasina last year. His post has now gone viral on social media, garnering 2.6 million views and over 14,000 likes.
Curious netizens replied with a barrage of questions for the astrologer. One of them asked Kini about the future of Bangladesh, to which he replied, "Full anti-INDIA", while others sought his predictions on winning a gold medal in Paris Olympics, the results of Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.
It all started with a protest against reservation in which the Sheikh Hasina government used to give 30 per cent of government jobs to the families of people who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, which triggered widespread protests in Bangladesh that is struggling from widespread youth unemployment. Despite the Supreme Court scaling back the quotas, it was not enough to quell the protests that soon escalated into an anti-government agitation.
Protesters took to the streets to march towards Dhaka and clashed with police and student activists of the ruling Awami League party. Hundreds of protesters stormed the Ganabhaban, the Prime Minister's official residence in Dhaka, as she fled the country via a military helicopter. Several images and videos released on social media showed protesters looting television sets, chairs and tables at the PM's house, while others lay on her bed, feasted on fish and biryani and looted her valuables.
The death toll in the anti-government protests in Bangladesh on Tuesday climbed to 440, with 100 more deaths reported after Sheikh Hasina fled the country, according to local media, even as efforts were on by the army to bring the situation under control in the violence-hit nation. After Hasina's departure, the country's Army Chief announced the formation of an interim government. Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus agreed to be the chief adviser for the soon-to-be-formed interim government.
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