In an exclusive interview with RT, former Bangladesh cabinet minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has accused the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and members of the Clinton family of orchestrating the 2024 riots that resulted in the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. According to Chowdhury, the unrest was not a spontaneous youth revolt but a ‘carefully planned’ strategy supported by Western entities.
He specifically pointed to the role of USAID and the International Republican Institute, suggesting that their funding was directed towards regime change activities. The accusations come more than a year after Hasina’s fall from power, which followed weeks of student-led protests against job quotas that escalated into nationwide violence, claiming over 700 lives, according to the interim government’s tally.
Hasina, who had led Bangladesh for 15 years at the head of her Awami League party, fled the country as crowds stormed her residence. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus became the chief adviser of the interim government.
According to Chowdhury, the unrest was not a spontaneous youth revolt but a ‘carefully planned’ operation bankrolled by Western interests.
The accusations come more than a year after Hasina’s dramatic fall from power. In August 2024, weeks of student-led protests against job quotas spiraled into nationwide violence, claiming over 700 lives, according to the interim government’s tally.
Hasina, who had led Bangladesh for 15 years at the head of her Awami League party, fled the country as crowds stormed her residence. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus became the chief adviser of the interim government.
According to Chowdhury, the unrest was not a spontaneous youth revolt but a ‘carefully planned’ operation bankrolled by Western interests.
‘There is a nexus between the Clinton family, and the interim Yunus regime from a very long past,’ he alleged. ‘These activities were going on for a long time. They weren’t very open, but funding of clandestine NGOs was going on. They were hell-bent on changing the government in Bangladesh.’
He zeroed in on the flow of US aid, questioning where millions in USAID dollars had vanished. ‘IRI was active, USAID’s fundings were going to nowhere. Where had that money gone to? It was destined for regime change activities.’
‘A chaos was carefully planned with this money. And then the chaos was turned into a big riot.’
Since Yunus took over as interim leader, Dhaka has begun shifting focus away from New Delhi and toward Islamabad in an effort to rebuild relations that have been strained since 1971, when then East Pakistan gained independence as Bangladesh. Millions of Bengalis were killed in the 1971 war, and Bangladesh has sought a formal apology from Pakistan for alleged war-crimes committed by its military during the conflict.
In the aftermath, then-Pakistani Defense Minister Aziz Ahmed stated that his country ‘condemned and deeply regretted’ any transgressions that may have been committed.