Sheikh Hasina only hope against radicals: India Today

Calling Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as "only hope" for holding the country's founding principal secularism, an opinion piece published in India Today took a dig at the BNP-Jamaat alliance for getting political benefit from the gruesome assassination that left Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members dead on the tragic night on 15 August 1975.

"Victims of terror like Bangabandhu family can always be counted on to fight radical forces," read the piece published Wednesday (28 September), pointing to the gritty statesmanship put on display by Sheikh Hasina since her return to this country in 1981.

In reference to the strong alliance between Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and killers of Mujib family as vindicated through political patronage under successes governments including Begum Zia, the article took a jibe at the BNP-Jamaat coalition saying in the fight against radical, "those should not be trusted who politically benefit form such fissures".

Deep Halder, the executive editor of India today digital, recounted his experience during his recent visit to the country, saying for the country's Hindus, "Sheikh Hasina remains the only hope".

Extending birthday greetings for the premiere, the piece further elaborated on the writer's interaction with the Hindus at the grassroots.

Highlighting his visit to Bangabandhu's residence in Dhanmondi Road No 32, he wrote, "I drew solace from the fact that the Bangladesh that was imagined and built by your father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had no place for such fundamentalists who went on a rampage last year."

"I remembered how your family had paid such a heavy cost in trying to keep the country secular and how you, Madam Prime Minister, have survived 19 assassination attempts in four decades."