A second liberation day.
That is how Muhammad Yunus, Nobel peace laureate, hailed the moment when Bangladeshs autocratic prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, fled by helicopter on Monday amid a huge uprising.
Now the 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is to head the countrys interim government.Mr Yunus, who is due to arrive home from France on Thursday, has called for elections within months.
Though Bangladesh went to the polls in January, the last credible, truly competitive election was in 2008.
The students who led the protests against the toppled government had no chance to cast a meaningful vote.
Turnout this year was rock bottom, with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) once more boycotting the contest.
To no ones surprise, Sheikh Hasinas Awami League won a fourth consecutive term.Sheikh Hasina was once herself a student leader, as well as the heir to a powerful political dynasty.
In 1990, she co-led a mass pro-democracy movement with Khaleda Zia, the leader of the BNP and widow of another political leader, ending military rule.
In power, she won admiration for stabilising the country, tackling jihadist groups and growing the economy, largely through the garment manufacturing boom.
The rate of extreme poverty halved.
But her rule became increasingly oppressive, with extrajudicial killings and the jailing of political opponents and journalists.
There was growing anger about corruption, especially as the economy foundered and living costs soared in the wake of the pandemic.With youth unemployment at 40%, the reintroduction of government job quotas for descendants of those who fought in the Bangladesh independence war in 1971 seen as a bung to party supporters brought students out in protest.
She angered them further by referring to them with a derogatory slur akin to calling them traitors.
An internet shutdown hit businesses and left citizens without access to their money.
A vicious crackdown, which killed hundreds and saw more than 10,000 arrested, inflamed the uprising instead of suppressing it.The interim government should now ensure the immediate release of political prisoners and launch an investigation into the deadly violence.
Those responsible from the leader down must be held accountable.
Restoring security is also critical, especially following attacks on Hindu homes, shops and temples.Renewing the old, failed political system which produced first alternating rule by the Awami League and the BNP, and then single-party domination, will be a trickier task.
Ms Zia, Sheikh Hasinas ally turned bitter foe, has been released from prison but has serious health issues.
In any case, many want to move beyond the battle of the Begums, but not necessarily to embrace the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party.Mr Yunus says he wants the new generation to step forward in politics as they have in protest.
He could and should play a key part in ensuring that transition.
Civil society, which suffered under Sheikh Hasina, has been critical to Bangladeshs economic and social progress and will be central to a successful democratic renewal.
There is serious concern that the army could entrench itself in power again, though some think it prefers to operate behind the scenes.
It should establish a clear roadmap towards elections now.
Bangladesh was unique among 30 countries polled for the Open Society Barometer last year, with more respondents prioritising civil and political rights (36%) than economic and social rights (28%).
Its people want a real say at last.
They should get it.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here..
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com