Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday announced the historic July Declaration, a political charter that grants state and constitutional recognition to the 2024 student-led uprising which led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The declaration is set to be annexed to the upcoming reformed constitution.
Reading out the 28-point declaration at Dhaka’s South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad, Yunus said, “The people of Bangladesh express their desire that the student-people uprising of 2024 will get proper state and constitutional recognition, and that the July Declaration will feature in the schedule of the reformed constitution as framed by the government formed through the next national election.”
Framed by the interim government, the declaration was delivered in presence of top leaders from major political parties including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and student-led National Citizen Party (NCP). Among those in attendance were BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Jamaat’s Professor Mia Golam Parwar, and NCP convener Nahid Islam.
The announcement marked the first anniversary of the 36-day anti-government mass movement that climaxed on August 5 last year, forcing Sheikh Hasina to flee to India. A video documentary and national anthem preceded the declaration ceremony.
The declaration outlines Bangladesh’s historic struggle—from the 1971 Liberation War, the 1975 November uprising, to the 1990 pro-democracy movement—culminating in the July 2024 uprising, which Yunus said was “a continuation of the people’s fight against fascism, inequality and corruption.”
The document strongly criticises Hasina’s regime, accusing it of turning Bangladesh into a “fascist, mafia and failed state” through election fraud, human rights abuses, rampant corruption, and violent repression of dissent. It also highlights the “farcical” national polls in 2014, 2018 and 2024, and documents widespread public resentment over nepotism, quota-based discrimination, and systemic violence. “The Awami League government, loyal to external forces, applied brutal force to suppress protests… and indiscriminately killed nearly 1,000 people during the uprising,” the declaration reads.