Hasnat, Sarjis wanted to keep Hasina alive, Rashed's explosive comments

Former General Secretary of the People's Rights Council and current BNP leader Rashed Khan has claimed that Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement, wanted to keep the Awami League government in power from the beginning. He made this comment while participating in a private television talk show recently.

Rashed Khan said that although Hasnat and Sarjis wanted the quota reform movement to succeed, they did not want the movement to turn into a mass uprising. He claimed that the events of July 19 and the issues of participating in dialogue with ministers during the movement have brought this question to the fore.

He also said that participating in the movement to ban the Awami League later was a strategy of Dhaka's previous weakness. He claimed that discussions and questions were raised in various quarters focusing on the role of some leaders in the July mass uprising.

However, there was no immediate response from Hasnat Abdullah, Sarjis Alam or those involved in these allegations. The allegations were mainly based on political statements and personal observations, the veracity of which could not be independently verified.