Sheikh Hasina: Delhi serves as protected haven for Sheikh Hasina from tumult & extremism | Delhi Information

NEW DELHI: On Monday, a lumbering C130J transport plane bearing the deep inexperienced and purple disc roundel of Bangladesh Air Power touched down on the Indian Air Power base at Hindon. The occupants had been quietly whisked away. In a vastly totally different however equally political circumstances, the visitors who disembarked had equally come to India virtually half a century in the past.Sheikh Hasina, pressured to stop as prime minister and flee her nation, should have remembered the occasions of 1975 when she first known as India her dwelling.
The six years that Sheikh Hasina lived in Delhi started with the bloodbath of her father and plenty of members of her household in a navy coup in Dhaka on Aug 15, 1975. She was in Germany along with her husband, youngsters and sister Rehana, who was the second VIP occupant of the craft that landed at Hindon on Monday, and escaped sure demise.
Hasina, her husband, Dr MA Wazed, a nuclear scientist who was working in Germany on the time, her son Sajeeb and her daughter Saima, also referred to as Putul, had been supplied asylum in India and lived a low-profile life within the capital from 1975 to 1981. The then Indian PM Indira Gandhi determined there was no approach the kids of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a frontrunner with whom she shared private equation, would return to an unsure prospect of their nation.
“Sheikh Hasina lived at 56, Lajpat Nagar III, for a number of weeks earlier than shifting to Pandara Highway,” recalled Anil Makhijani, an actual property guide and an outdated resident of the southeast Delhi locality. “In truth, the Bangladesh Excessive Fee operated from that home for a few years earlier than shifting to the Diplomatic Enclave of Chanakyapuri.”
The household was then accommodated in a govt flat at Pandara Park. Sheikh Hasina made the very best she may of a life in exile. “She labored for All India Radio’s Bangla service to cross time,” remembered veteran journalist Manmohan Sharma. Amongst those that offered the beleaguered household heat companionship had been Pranab Mukherjee and his spouse Shubhra Mukherjee. The Bangladeshi couple frequently went to the Mukherjees’ residence on Talkatora Highway. The kids of the 2 households additionally bonded.
Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of the previous President of India, remembered these days. She mentioned, “My mom and Sheikh Hasina used to debate artwork, music and Bengali literature.” She reminisced additionally in regards to the time that Putul and he or she performed with dolls on the lawns of close by India Gate.
Throughout Sheikh Hasina’s keep in Delhi, leaders of the Awami League, the social gathering that her father had led, would come to fulfill her frequently, requesting her to turn into lively in Bangladesh politics. After remaining noncommittal for a very long time, she determined to return to her homeland in 1981.
The previous Bangladeshi PM’s relationship with the Mukherjees remained unbroken. At any time when she visited Delhi, she made certain to spend a while with Pranab and Shubhra Mukherjee. As Sharmistha recalled, “When my mom handed away on Aug 18, 2015, Sheikh Hasina got here along with her daughter Putul to precise her condolences.” On Monday, Sharmistha posted on X: “Keep protected & robust Hasina Aunty. Tomorrow is one other day. My prayers are with you.”
Sheikh Hasina is anticipated to be in Delhi till she decides the place she is going to go now that she has left her nation. This time, there aren’t any Mukherjees to go to, however there’s something she is going to discover totally different — a highway in her father’s identify. Known as Park Road Highway till 2017, an artery close to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital was renamed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Marg that yr.
Sheikh Mujib, Banga Bandhu or father of Bangladesh as he’s known as, and hero of the liberation motion, arrived in Delhi as PM of the previous East Pakistan on Jan 10, 1972. It was bitterly chilly within the capital that day, however the welcome he acquired at Palam airport was very heat, led by PM Indira Gandhi and her complete cupboard. The anthems of India and its new neighbour had been performed on the airport. He thanked India for its help in liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan. As he moved in a motorcade to Rashtrapati Bhawan, 1000’s of Delhiites waved and cheered him.
( Vivek Shukla is an creator)