Dhaka, Oct 3: The Bangladesh government on Tuesday accused deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina of fuelling labour unrest as violent garment workers’ protests over higher wages entered the fourth day, forcing hundreds of factories to suspend operations and prompting authorities to deploy additional paramilitary forces.
According to the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), fresh violence forced another 300 factories to shut down, taking the number of affected units to nearly 1,000 since the latest wave of protests began on October 31.
The unrest has spread across Dhaka and its industrial outskirts, including Gazipur, Ashulia, Mirpur and Narayanganj, and Mymensingh district with workers clashing with police, blocking roads and disrupting production.
The workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka (approx INR 23,000), more than double the existing 12,500 taka (approx INR 9,507), citing rising prices of food, housing, transport and healthcare that have eroded their purchasing power.
Prime Minister’s Information Affairs Adviser Zahedur Rahman accused Hasina of being behind the unrest, saying he did not believe she would allow the government to function peacefully as long as she remained alive.
“I do not believe Sheikh Hasina will let the government remain in peace as long as she is alive. As long as Hasina would remain alive, acts of sabotage could continue,” he told a media briefing, alleging that the ousted premier is an architect of the protests.
The remarks marked a shift from Rahman’s earlier assertion that Hasina and her disbanded Awami League were politically irrelevant in Bangladesh.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Monday also alleged that some garment factory owners linked to the Awami League were fuelling the unrest.
The minister claimed Hasina’s supporters were behind the violence, while Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s labour and employment adviser Mahdi Amin said the government has found evidence of the infiltration of “fugitive evil powers” into the workers’ movement, in an apparent reference to the Awami League.
Amin said those involved would be exposed and face legal action.
The allegations came despite the home minister’s assertion in July that the Awami League had been “politically destroyed” and would never be able to return to politics in Bangladesh.
The protests come at a critical time for Bangladesh’s readymade garment industry, which employs about four million workers and accounts for more than 80 per cent of the country’s export earnings.
Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporter after China, supplying major international brands such as H&M, Zara and Gap.
Manufacturers have warned that prolonged disruption during the peak production season for spring and summer orders could delay shipments, threaten overseas buyers’ confidence and lead to cancellations.
Police have arrested more than 100 people in connection with the unrest, officials said, adding that around 50 of them were linked to Awami League politics.
Hasina fled to India after her government was ousted in a student-led uprising on August 5, 2024. A special tribunal during the subsequent interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus later sentenced her to death in absentia.
The government on Sunday constituted a six-member minimum wage board to review garment workers’ pay and recommend a revised wage structure. The board, however, was yet to hold its first meeting as protests continued.
Workers said scores of demonstrators had been injured in clashes with police, who used batons and tear gas to disperse crowds. Witnesses said protesters threw bricks and stones at law enforcement personnel.
The Ittefaq newspaper reported fresh clashes in Narayanganj, where workers blocked a key road connecting the port town with Dhaka and set fire to discarded tyres. Police responded with tear gas and batons.
In the Ashulia industrial zone on the outskirts of Dhaka, Industrial Police fired tear gas and sound grenades after protesters allegedly hurled bricks and stones at security personnel. Similar clashes were reported in Dhaka’s Mirpur area.
Authorities earlier deployed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel, with the paramilitary force saying it has deployed additional forces on Tuesday, positioning 12 platoons in Gazipur and two in the suburban river port town of Narayanganj amid continued violence. (PTI)
