With Hasina in exile, is Joy the future of AL?  

It is none other than ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy who has become the self-proclaimed "face of Awami League" as well as the sole mouthpiece for the party in an apparent continuation of Mujib's dynasty after his mother.

Since his mother Hasina resigned, fled the country and took refuge in India on 5 August following an unprecedented students-people uprising, Joy, in interviews with dozens of foreign media including many Indian news outlets, has been speaking for Hasina and the party.  

Lastly, as the sole spokesperson, he expressed his "happiness" at the indication made by the army chief in an interview with Reuters that the parliamentary election should be held in the next 18 months as he said, "I'm happy to hear we have an expected timeline at least now."

Role of AL in reforms?

Soon after the army chief's interview was published, Joy demanded a role for the Awami League in the reforms initiated by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and the next election in an interview with Reuters.

But his wishes may prove to be just that. The advisory council of the interim government on 5 September which marks a month of Hasina's ouster from power, decided that the "fascist Awami League will not get any opportunity to exercise political activities until its trial is completed."

Joy, who has already invited controversy for his contradictory remarks on various occasions, came up with the demand at a time when the AL is now at an existential juncture as it is facing the risk of being banned for the first time in its history.

Charges of crimes against humanity

The party has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the July-August movement that toppled Hasina ending her more than 15 years-long authoritarian rule.

Preparation is underway to charge the party formally. The law ministry has drafted a proposal for changes in the International Crimes Tribunal Act seeking to introduce a provision that allows the banning of a political party for up to 10 years for committing crimes against humanity and genocide.

All signs indicate the AL will be put on the dock along with Hasina and many other leaders of her party under the ICT Act on the same charge.

If found guilty, the AL may be banned for the first time since its establishment in 1949. The courts will decide the period of the ban whether it would be for ten years, the maximum punishment or less.

Any of its leaders, if found guilty however, will be disqualified from contesting election for life, according to a provision of the election law introduced before the 2008 election in response to a popular demand to ban war criminals in elections.

In an interview with Reuters on 24 September, Hasina's son Sajib Wazed Joy, who is currently living in the United States, also warned that "genuine reform and polls were impossible without the oldest political party AL."

He made the demand as the interim government on Wednesday said that it would hold talks with political parties after receiving recommendations from the six reform panels it has set up.

"Once the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the date for the vote will be announced," said the office of the chief adviser.

So, Joy demands that AL too be invited to the talks along with other political parties.

In an interview with Reuters, Joy, demanded a role for the Awami League in the reforms initiated by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and the next election

Does AL matter anymore?

But his warning that "genuine reform and polls were impossible without AL" holds little power in the current political situation.

The chief of the election system reform commission already commented that elections without AL would not be considered unacceptable.  

Staying in the US, more than 12,000 kilometres away from Bangladesh, Joy perhaps can not sense the present pulse in politics.

Hasina, who has been leading the AL for more than four decades with an iron fist, is now in exile in India for an uncertain period. Some of her party leaders and ministers have been taken into custody. Many others have either disappeared from public view or reportedly fled the country.   

Her authoritarian rule destroyed all political and social and economic institutions in the country – thereby establishing a Kleptocratic regime over which she reigned regally. Her rule is being labelled "fascist." Hasina even destroyed the party that brought her to power. But her son Joy is now claiming AL's role in reforming the institutions such as parliament, judiciary and election system which were brutally destroyed during Hasina's rule since 2009 nullifying all previous reform measures. 

In the changed political dynamics, the AL is not being considered as one of the key elements in building a new Bangladesh through reforms. The party that excluded all other parties positioning itself as the sole guardian of Bangladesh has been excluded. 

In the political vacuum left by Hasina and her party's exclusion, Jamaat has emerged as a key challenger of BNP, the party that is the key rival of AL. Politics in the coming days will go through many remarkable events shaping and reshaping post Hasina Bangladesh. 

Is a ban coming for AL?

The historical irony is that the AL which was the expression of Bengali nationalism once upon a time and played a pivotal role in the War of Liberation five decades ago is now facing the risk of a ban on charge of committing crimes against humanity and genocide for Hasina's misrule and her attempts to cling to power by massacring men, women and children.

This is an irony that the party government led by Hasina that held a trial of top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami on charge of committing crimes against humanity during the country's liberation war will be on the dock on the same charge.

Intriguingly, the original ICT Act was made in 1973 by the government led by her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to hold trial of war criminals of 1971 under a special constitutional provision.

His government was empowered with sweeping authority by the first amendment to the Constitution in the same year to try war criminals by introducing any law regardless of its inconsistency with any part of the Constitution.

Hasina's government amended the ICT Act twice-- once in 2009 and again in 2013-to expedite trials and ensure the punishment of war criminals.

After her ouster from power, the interim government has moved to amend the law seeking to introduce a provision for banning a political party for up to 10 years on charge of committing crimes against humanity and genocide.

Joy wears the mantle of party saviour

Amid such a situation, the 53-year-old Joy seems to have taken up the mantle of a saviour Avatar for both AL and her mother's legacy.

Four days after his mother was ousted, Joy, in an interview with NDTV on 10 August, claimed that "by default, I have become the face of Awami League."

His claim raised the question. What has made him the face of AL by default now? He is only one of the millions of members of the party. Neither does he hold any post in the party. His other identity is that he is the son and an adviser of the fallen prime minister Hasina.

Is it because the other leaders disappeared from public view that he had to become the face of AL?

Hasina and her son Joy have a similarity in that each claims the right to own AL as a family property.

In his latest interview his claim that "right now I want to keep my party people safe" reflects his "I-ness" and he too thinks of the AL as his family property.  

But he is not lucky like his mother Hasina, who returned home ending her life in exile for more than six years after the fall of the regime of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

The AL, which was split into two after the fall of the Mujib regime, found in Hasina a symbol of unity of the factions. She was welcomed home in May 1981 by her party leaders who then unanimously made her the party chief for survival. Under her leadership, the party united and returned to power in 1996 after a long break of 21 years. But her consecutive fourth term as prime minister since 2009 ended ingloriously with her being forced to go into exile again and making her return uncertain.     

This is a different Bangladesh

Today's Bangladesh is different from the one in 1981 when she returned. So, the return of her son as "the crown prince" to Bangladesh to lead her party remains uncertain as he was also accused of financial corruption and abuse of the powers, according to media reports.  

Around two decades ago, Hasina had moved to baptise her son Joy as the crown prince of her party for the continuation of the dynasty as Joy was accorded a rousing reception on 22 December 2004 in Dhaka on his arrival from the US.

Family members, relatives and hundreds of party leaders and workers gathered at the Zia International Airport (ZIA) to welcome Joy. Hundreds of leaders and workers of AL-associated organisations such as Chhatra League, Jubo League, Mohila Awami League and Sramik League lined up from the airport to Hasina's residence Sudha Sadan in Dhanmondi, holding colourful banners and festoons to welcome the mother-son duo.

The jubilant AL men were seen shouting welcome slogans and showering petals on Joy and Christine, his wife, while they were going home from the airport in a Pajero jeep. They waved to the cheering party workers and enthusiastic people on both sides of the road.

The colourfully decorated adjacent streets of Sudha Sadan wore a festive look and music, dance and welcoming slogans continued until that afternoon.

But her attempt could not gain traction and Joy returned to the USA after a few months.

Joy again came to the limelight before the 2014 one-sided parliamentary election.

On 23 July 2013, at an Iftar party gathering organised by Jubo League at Bangabandhu Avenue, Joy claimed "I have information that the Awami League will return to power."

His comments sparked criticism forcing the AL leaders to come up with explanations to protect him from criticism.  At a press conference, AL leaders clarified that Joy had meant the party would win if its inactive members became active again.

 

Trying to stay relevant

Joy is back again after his mother's ouster in 2024. 

He has been the primary source of information about his mother's side of the details of the situation in which she left the country as Hasina has not made any public appearances since her ouster.

Speaking to Newshour on the BBC World Service on 5 August, he said his mother had been considering resigning since the day before and had left the country for her own safety after her family insisted.

He claimed his mother did not resign as prime minister so she is still the legitimate head of government.

But before his claim, Bangladesh Army Chief Waker Uz Zaman confirmed earlier that day that Sheikh Hasina had resigned and left the country.

Five days after his mother left Bangladesh, Joy spoke to Reuters and said, "My mother never officially resigned. She didn't get the time." He added that this meant the formation of the interim government could be "challenged in court".

In some interviews after his mother's ouster, Joy initially commented that his family's future in politics was over. But later he changed his mind.

"I never had any political ambitions and was settled in the US. But the developments in Bangladesh in the past few days show there is a leadership vacuum. I had to step in for the sake of the party and I am at the forefront now," Joy said while speaking to Times of India on August 9.

The next day, in an interview with another Indian news outlet, NDTV, Joy said he would consider returning to Bangladesh and leading the AL.

But there is no sign of any preparation taken by his party men here in Dhaka to welcome his return!

As of now, Joy however did not return to Bangladesh.