How Does Team Sheikh Hasina Work In Exile? Inside The IT Cell Of Awami League
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The primary job of the IT Cell is to run five social media platforms of Awami League—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Telegram
This week, in London's Chatham House, Chief Adviser to the interim Bangladesh government, Md Yunus, recounted how he almost pleaded with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restrain former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina from communicating with her support base in Bangladesh or across the world.
'I said to PM Modi: 'You want to host her? I can't force you to abandon that policy, but please help us in making sure she doesn't speak to Bangladeshi people the way she is doing as the whole of Bangladesh gets very angry.' India is not doing what I asked. Modi's answer was: 'It is social media, we can't control it.' What can you say? It's an explosive situation. You can't just walk away by saying it's social media," Yunus recounted as he desperately tries to dry up any information on Awami League—the party of the now-exiled Hasina.
But how does a party, whose entire cadre base are either too intimidated in the country to react or the leadership in exile, function? Most importantly, how does the communication work when the party itself has been banned in Bangladesh recently? 'Though there was just 40 per cent voter turnout in the last election, Awami League won 224 out of 300 contested parliamentary seats. You cannot dismiss such a prevalent political discourse of Bangladesh, all of a sudden," argues Bangladeshi journalist Sahidul Hasan Khokon.
So, how does the Awami League stay afloat while its top leadership is in exile? Sources within the party say that soon after August 5, 2024, when Hasina had to flee to Ghaziabad's Hindon Airport, the Awami League fell back to what it calls the 'Covid-19 era set-ups'. The backbone of the set-up was former minister of state for information and broadcasting, Mohammad A Arafat, who is now based out of Kolkata. He set up Awami League's busiest nerve centre in the outskirts of Kolkata in Newtown area.
The primary job of the IT Cell is to run five social media platforms of Awami League—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Telegram. Facebook remains its biggest mass-connect platform, where it has 3.9 million followers. On Twitter, it has seen a sudden spike ever since last year, say sources and the follower count has crossed 6,58,000. On YouTube, it has 4,66,000 followers, while a nascent effort on Instagram has garnered just 12,000 followers.
However, what remains the medium of choice for Hasina to communicate is Telegram. Though a Telegram channel is also open for general cadres and supporters, which has more than 93,000 subscribers and counting, content is pushed like the latest one highlighting the arrest of ISKCON's Chinmoy Prabhu calling it 'deeper crisis in minority rights", appealing to the Hindu voters of Bangladesh who have been traditionally loyal with Hasina.
'Every day, Sheikh Hasina meets the support base of Awami League that is left behind in Bangladesh. She interacts for three to five hours every day on average. So far, she has been interacting with the district committees. Apart from the few days of Eid, she hasn't taken a break as such. We record the entire conversation and extract the operative portion that can inspire our cadres, using it as content on different social media handles. We then push them on the social," explains Arafat.
A person who is aware of how the whole ecosystem of Awami League IT Cell works, adds that Hasina has completed 63 out of 64 district committees so far.
The break Arafat was referring to was when Hasina managed to spend six days with her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Sources say he came on a US passport after the Bangladesh interim government cancelled his passport. While Arafat holds the fort in Kolkata, Joy holds the fort in Washington DC. Sources say six to seven individuals work in the Kolkata team while three to four work in the Washington DC team under Joy.
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'We have teams in London, Brussels and the Middle East as well. But they are not necessarily party workers. Many of them are also from the diaspora who feel strongly about their country and the party's ideological standings. So, they extend their helping hand," adds Arafat.
But the inevitable question—How is Sheikh Hasina doing? Smiles Arafat. 'She is reading a lot. She believes we will triumph (over Yunus)."
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Awami League bangladesh dhaka Muhammad Yunus Sheikh Hasina
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
June 18, 2025, 09:35 IST
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