Clinton family, US aid agency behind Sheikh Hasina’s downfall, says former Bangladesh minister

In an explosive allegation, a key aide of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has claimed that the Clinton family and a top humanitarian agency of the US government were behind the 2024 uprising in the country.

 

In an interview to a Russian TV channel, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, the former shipping minister, claimed that Bangladesh’s unwillingness to condemn Moscow over the Ukraine invasion was one of the reasons the US wanted to oust the prime minister.

 

The weeks-long violent protests, led by students, claimed over 700 lives and toppled Hasina’s 15-year reign in Bangladesh. The Awami League leader fled the country in August 2024, paving the way for the formation of an interim government. Notably, Chowdhury was one of the key negotiators between the protesters and the authorities.

 

In his interview to Russia Today, the former minister alleged that the violent agitation was instigated by a few NGOs, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

"Certain actions of some NGOs, especially from the US—I mean USAID, or the International Republican Institute—were running campaigns against our government since 2018," he said.

 

Chowdhury further alleged a “nexus” between the family of former US president Bill Clinton and his wife, former state secretary Hillary Clinton, and the head of the Bangladesh interim government, Muhammad Yunus.

 

"This relationship reflects a deeper attempt by the Clinton Foundation and Yunus to push for regime change under the guise of democracy and development," he said.

 

Referring to the UN resolution against Russia over the Ukraine invasion, the former minister said while many other countries in South Asia were “slavishly following what was being dictated to them”, Bangladesh had to carefully balance its international relations, given its long-term relations with Moscow.

 

“There was a resolution that was brought in the UN. And there was intense lobbying for Bangladesh to vote against Russia. So our position was that we are going to abstain from voting,” he said.

 

Chowdhury’s remarks came days after Hasina, in an exclusive article in THE WEEK, accused the interim government, led by Yunus, of silencing the media, jailing her political allies, and intimidating minorities and opposition voices. 

 

“Bangladesh is now ruled by an unaccountable elite paying lip service to democracy while the country cries out for free and fair elections,” she wrote, calling the present situation “a betrayal of the people’s faith in the ballot.”

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