History is replete with examples from the past when mighty monarchs were overthrown because they became indifferent to the changes demanded by the common man.
Dr Subhendu Dey
Dr Subhendu Dey, Professor and Director at Indus Business Academy, Bangalore (IBA) is a highly experienced teacher, researcher, and institution builder. Dr. Dey did his PhD in Business Administration from AMU, Aligarh; Post Graduation from IIM Kozhikode; and B.E. from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Dr. Dey’s areas of research interest include Subsistence Marketplaces with specific reference to small and marginal agri-fresh producers; and Marketing Analytics. He works on collaborative research projects with Indian and foreign academics, NGOs, and Social Enterprises in India on projects that are expected to benefit sellers and buyers in the subsistence marketplaces of India. Dr Dey has also consulted for well-known companies from India, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Ukraine. In 2016, Dr. Dey received The Times of India EDUICONS Award for building a new business school in Chennai. In 2023, he received the MTC Global Award for Excellence 2023: Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy Award, awarded at MTC Global’s 13th Annual Global Convention.
On August 05, 2024, Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country she ruled since 2009. The 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina saw Bangladesh develop on multiple fronts including witnessing a more than 6% GDP growth rate in 12 out of the last 15 years that catapulted Bangladesh to the 34th largest economy of the world (23rd at PPP exchange rate). In his book Inspiring Leadership, John Adair writes, “Leaders are needed to personify the desired change, to direct and organise it. If external factors – social, economic and technological – support that direction, then the winds of time will propel the leader and his or her team rapidly forward.” The recent incidents in Bangladesh seem to belie that. The reasons for that could be many including some leadership failures as highlighted below.
Creating Dependency: While a large section of the country continued to embrace democracy, some reports suggested that Sheikh Hasina had turned herself into an autocratic ruler. By controlling all resources that others also wanted a share of, she started exercising absolute power over all those who saw those resources as important for their growth. Whether it was building highways, electrification of rural Bangladesh, or the flourishing textile industry, her associates depended on her to get lucrative projects. Over the period, this dependency only kept increasing. As a result, corruption became rampant during her regime. This resulted in a sweeping anger amongst her countrymen. While the citizens were happy with the developmental activities undertaken during her tenure, it became apparent that they were also unhappy with the large-scale corruption resulting from this tactfully created dependency by Sheikh Hasina.
Losing Credibility: Hasina came to power in 2009, and her tenure witnessed Bangladesh growing at a rapid pace. The poverty rate witnessed a substantial decline, and the unemployment rate has also been more or less stable. All of these along with the developmental activities riding on funding received from the World Bank, should have been enough to bring credibility to her leadership. The last month’s incidents showed that despite all her talks about development, and the poll promise of making Bangladesh a developed country, she lost credibility as a leader. Victory in the 2024 elections was termed a sham by her political opponents. Some political analysts also raised questions at the Election Commission for inflating voter turnout. Of course, the continued violence even after the verdict of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh reduced the reserved quota to a total of 7% from a high of 56% added to speculations that external forces were behind the student agitation. Losing credibility made her even more susceptible to pressures from the military. It is the same military which helped her rule the country for the last 15 years with iron hands.
Lack of fairness and getting misled: Good leaders exhibit fairness and justice. However, Hasina seldom showed fairness and justice for her political opponents. From partnering with Khaleda Zia to oust Gen. Ershad to eliminating many of her political opponents including putting Khaleda Zia behind bars, she has been both astute and ruthless. There have been many such instances where she has been criticised for muzzling the voice of the press. This led to her not searching for the middle ground when the trouble was almost tearing the law-and-order situation of the country into smithereens. Firing at the student protesters clearly shows that her advisors misled her. Autocrats with so much power have the risk of becoming delusional, and they start thinking that whatever they do is absolutely fine, and will ultimately be acceptable to others.
Inability to make the right decisions: Among some of the traits exhibited by leaders facing crisis are remaining calm under tremendous pressure, taking decisive and timely actions, and more importantly, working with a unified team, and caring for everybody. In Hasina’s case, all of these seemed to be quite the opposite. Calling the student protesters ‘razakars’ clearly exhibited the frustration that was building inside her. Firing at student protesters showed that she did not really care for the lives of the agitating students. The way her own military hastened her exit from the country shows that in reality, she was not working with a unified team. During this period many of her decisions left a lot to be desired. After the Supreme Court’s verdict opened up merit-based seats to a high of 93%, she probably thought that the protesting students will go back to the classrooms. How is it possible that her team could not see that there were hands behind the students instigating them to go on? All of these point to her inability to make the right decision when faced with a crisis of this magnitude. I get reminded of the profound words from Tennyson, “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
The Bangladesh crisis will result in books being written. Researchers will analyse the crisis minutely and write articles and journal papers. But, all of these will be done after the incidents have happened. For leaders across the world, there are lessons to be learnt. While power and economic development may seem to march together, answers have to be sought about the needs of citizens beyond economic development. History is replete with examples from the past when mighty monarchs were overthrown because they became indifferent to the changes demanded by the common man. There are also a few examples of toppling democratically elected leaders, especially in countries that have a history of being governed by the military in the past.
