Explained: How Bangladesh's Quota Protests Snowballed Into A Mass Movement Against Sheikh Hasina

The job quota protests soon turned into a full on mass movement against the Sheikh Hasina government as protesters demanded the resignation of the four-time Bangladesh Prime Minister.

New Delhi: Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's longest serving head of the state, was overthrown and fled the country on Monday after over two months of protests which were sparked by the now-revoked controversial 30 percent job quota but later snowballed into a mass movement against the Hasina government, culminating in Monday's dramatic events.

But how did a student protest against job reservations turned into a movement which culminated in the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina government? The answer, experts believe, lies in how the Hasina-led dispensation dealt with the student protesters, resorting to a high-handed approach to quell the protests instead of opting for a dialogue to resolve the crisis.

How did the quota protests start?

The protests, which started last month initially with a demand to end the quota system , later turned into anti-government demonstrations after the country's police and armed forces came down heavily on the protesters, killing over 200, according to official records.

Introduced in 1972 by Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina's father, the quota system provided for 30 percent reservation in government jobs for the relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

Earlier in 2018, similar mass protests by students had erupted against the controversial job quota system, prompting Hasina to abolish all reservations. However, the quotas were reinstated by a High Court in June this year following a plea filed by the kin of 1971 war veterans.

The court order provided for a whopping 56 percent reservation in government jobs for the children and grandchildren of Bangladesh's freedom fighters, women, and people belonging to 'backward districts'. The ruling triggered a severe backlash, sparking student protests across Bangladesh with protesters demanding the scaling back of reservations and a merit-based recruitment in jobs.

The violent protests, which left over 200 people dead, finally forced the Bangladesh Supreme Court to cut down quotas to just 7 percent, mandating 93 percent of recruitments to be allocated on merit.

From quota protests to anti-Hasina movement

However, even after the quotas were scaled, the protesters did not let up, at first demanding accountability for the deaths during the protests, the arrest of police and armed forces personnel involved in killings, and the release of people detained during the unrest, among several other demands.

The protests soon turned into a full on mass movement against the Sheikh Hasina government as protesters demanded the resignation of the four-time Prime Minister, leading to Sunday's deadly clashes which left at least 101 people, including 14 policemen, dead.

The student protesters had called for nationwide non-cooperation movement from Sunday to press their demands, but the protests turned violent as clashes erupted between the protesters and supporters of Hasina' Awami League party.

Hasina resigns, flees country

The mass protests coupled with Sunday's events-- which proved to be the proverbial final nail in the coffin for the Awami League government-- forced 76-year-old Sheikh Hasina to resign from her position and flee the country on Monday, ending her 15 years in power.

Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced Hasina's resignation in a dramatic development amid massive protests against her government even as thousands of protesters defied a military curfew and stormed her official residence, resorting to vandalism and looting to vent their anger against the former premier.

'I'm taking all responsibility (of the country), please cooperate," General Zaman said in a televised address to Bangladesh citizens on Monday after Hasina was overthrown and fled the country.

At least six people were killed in a fresh outbreak of violence on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)