Bangladeshi protesters storm and destroy a house linked to exiled former Prime Minister Hasina
Dhaka(AP/PTI): Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh took out their anger at exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday by destroying a family home that came to symbolize the country's independence — and now, they say, the authoritarianism they believe she led.
The attack was sparked by a speech Hasina planned to give to supporters from exile in neighboring India, where she fled last year during a deadly student-led uprising against her 15-year rule. Critics had accused her of suppressing dissent.
The house in the capital, Dhaka, had been home to Hasina's late father and Bangladesh's independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who declared the country's formal break from Pakistan there in 1971. He was assassinated there in 1975. Hasina later turned the home into a museum.
Since she fled the country, some of her supporters have tried to gather there but have been attacked by Hasina's critics, who have attacked other symbols of her government and party since the uprising, ransacking and setting fires in several buildings.
On Wednesday, some protesters threatened to “bulldoze” the building if the former prime minister went ahead with her speech, which marked the start of a month-long protest program by her Awami League political party. The party is trying to gain support amid allegations of attacks on its members and other Hasina backers.
As Hasina began speaking, protesters stormed the house and started dismantling the brick walls, later bringing a crane and an excavator to demolish the building.
“They do not have the power to destroy the country's independence with bulldozers. They may destroy a building, but they won't be able to erase the history,” Hasina said in response during her speech, even as the demolition continued.
She also called on the people of Bangladesh to resist the country's new leaders and alleged that they took power by “unconstitutional” means.
Hasnat Abdullah, a student leader, had warned media outlets against Hasina's speech and announced on Facebook that “tonight Bangladesh will be freed from the pilgrimage site of fascism.”
Many of the protesters chanted slogans demanding Hasina's execution for hundreds of deaths during last year's uprising against her. It was some of the country's worst upheaval since independence. Hasina urged a U.N. investigation into the deaths.
They also chanted slogans criticizing India. An interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has sought Hasina's extradition but India has not responded.
The interim government, which has been struggling to maintain order and prevent mob justice against Hasina's supporters, has accused the former prime minister of widespread corruption and human rights abuses during her rule that began in 2009.
Hasina's Awami League in turn has accused the Yunus-led government of violating human rights and suppressing Bangladesh's minority groups, which authorities have denied.
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Prez nod for FIR against AAP's Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain in Rs 2,000-cr classroom 'scam'
New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu has given her approval for the registration of an FIR against AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in an alleged scam of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools, sources said.
In 2022, the Delhi government's vigilance directorate recommended a probe into the alleged scam and submitted a report to the chief secretary.
The President has given her approval for registering the FIR against Sisodia and Jain in connection with the alleged scam during their tenures as ministers in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, the sources said.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), in a report dated February 17, 2020, highlighted "glaring irregularities" in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools by the Public Works Department (PWD).
The President's approval came under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act that pertains to "enquiry or inquiry or investigation of offences relatable to recommendations made or decision taken by public servant in discharge of official functions or duties".
Reacting to the development, senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the BJP of carrying out a witch-hunt against its political rivals.
The BJP has no interest or intention to fulfil the promises it made to the people of Delhi. Its only agenda is to carry out a witch-hunt against its political rivals to stifle the voice of people, the former minister said in a statement.
The BJP-led central government has already decided to prosecute every political adversary of the party and grant approvals to move the case forward but it should wait for the judicial process to begin, he said.
In July 2019, BJP leader Harish Khurana and then AAP rebel MLA Kapil Mishra, now a minister in the Delhi government, lodged a police complaint about the alleged scam.
According to a report prepared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Delhi government, the complainants alleged that there was a scam worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms and school buildings in Delhi. The work was done at a highly inflated cost by the Delhi government.
The alleged scam involves the construction of around 12,748 classrooms.
The ACB report said the total expenditure incurred for constructing the classrooms and school buildings was around Rs 2,892.65 crore. They were allegedly constructed at the rate of Rs 8,800 per square feet, whereas it was common knowledge that the average construction cost (even for a builder of flats) was around Rs 1,500 per square feet.
The total cost for constructing a classroom and school building, according to the tender awarded, was allegedly around Rs 24.86 lakh per room, whereas such rooms are easily constructed in Delhi at around Rs 5 lakh per room, it said.
The prices were increased almost five times to defraud the taxpayer by siphoning off money from the public exchequer in the garb of construction cost, the report said.
Even for a 5-star hotel, top ultra-luxury quality construction is around Rs 5,000 to Rs 5,500 per square feet, it said.
The complainants submitted a copy of documents in which information received under the RTI Act in respect of the construction of 18 classrooms in the Govt Girls Senior Secondary School, Nathupura, Burari (school ID:-1207111) revealed that they were constructed at a cost of Rs 12 crore, the ACB report said.
