Prothom Alo :

A year later, how would you interpret the mass uprising? What, in your view, were its core characteristics?

The July 24 mass uprising was a multi-layered, multi-dimensional explosion involving a diverse set of stakeholders. Mass uprisings are not new in our country’s history. However, the July uprising was a watershed moment in Bangladesh’s political narrative. It wasn’t just about toppling a government—it was about people standing up against an entrenched system.

This was not merely the result of a student movement. It was the culmination of long-standing frustration, deprivation, and political stagnation—a remarkable public awakening. Historically, it’s significant because it introduced a new dimension to our political culture and raised fundamental questions about the nature and legitimacy of the existing governance structure. Its distinctiveness lies in its ability to redefine citizenship rights, the nature of political leadership, and political culture itself.

This uprising had no single leader. No one individual or organisation led it. A notable feature was its decentralised leadership—not dependent on a singular figure or party, but shaped by numerous emerging political voices and actors. It was driven by a distributed, network-based leadership structure. From cities to villages, from campuses to factories—parallel leadership structures emerged everywhere, something unseen in previous political movements.