Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy on Saturday once again thanked the Indian government for saving his mother’s life after she fled Dhaka earlier this week.

Hasina is reportedly lodged in New Delhi after she had to leave Bangladesh due to widespread protests against her leadership.

“My message to the government of India is my personal gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for his government’s quick action in saving my mother’s life. I am eternally grateful,” Joy told ANI.

Bangladesh got a new interim government with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as its chief advisor on Thursday after the fall of Hasina’s administration.

It is, however, not clear how long the Awami League leader will stay in Delhi. It was earlier reported that Hasina would seek refuge in London but visa restrictions put a halt to those plans. Meanwhile, Joy says that his mother would return home as soon as the interim government declares fresh elections.

‘India should take a leadership role’

In his message to India, Joy said that the country should play a greater leadership role in the world.

“India needs to take a leadership role in the world, and not let other foreign powers dictate the situation. Because this is India’s neighbourhood,” he said from Washington DC.

Joy said that Hasina’s government was the only one who could keep Bangladesh’s economic growth steady and maintain peace in the country.

“It is a proven track record that no one can deny that Sheikh Hasina’s government kept peace in Bangladesh, kept economic growth, stopped insurgency and kept the eastern side of our subcontinent stable. We are the only government that has proven we can do it.”

‘Curious to see how they will perform’

Talking about the new interim government that took oath earlier this week, Joy said, “I personally believe, having seen the functioning of government and having served as a government, as an honorary advisor to the government, that it is one thing to be handpicked and appointed to a position. It’s a whole other thing to govern and without political experience, without governance experience, it is very, very difficult to run a country. I’m actually curious to see how they will perform, and whether they are even capable of running the country.”

Hasina’s son added that currently there is no democracy in Bangladesh as the country’s Constitution says that a “non-elected government cannot run the government even for a minute.”

“They are talking about democracy, but there is no Democracy…If they want to have Democracy, they have to have elections. And our Constitution is very clear on this provision that from the day parliament is dissolved, new elections have to be held within 90 days. There is no way around it,” Joy said.

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‘Eternally grateful to Modi govt for saving my mother’s life’: Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy