In October 2024, near the official residence of the chief advisor to Bangladesh's interim government, a simple sign stood out on a colorful, graffiti-splattered Dhaka wall. Written in English, the sign listed the country's three largest political parties—the Bangladesh Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat)—with a bright-red "X" next to each one, signaling clear disapproval of conventional politics. Below them was the word "New," followed by a green check mark. This was the vision of the thousands of mostly young protesters who three months earlier had led an unprecedented political movement against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League (1996–2001, 2009–24), the longest-reigning ruler in modern South Asia. They wanted a new Bangladesh, a Bangladesh 2.0.
This was not the only message vying for attention in the capital city. Nor was it the only wall bearing revolutionary sentiments. Seemingly every visible surface in cities and towns across the country had come to life with splashes of graffiti painted during and after the summer protests—demonstrations that at first had simply demanded reforms to government-job allocations but soon called for the prime minister to step down. "Would anyone like water?" (pani lagbe, pani?), read one of the slogans. These are the now-famous words of student-activist Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdho, who was immortalized on video handing out bottles of water to weary, unarmed protesters victimized by tear-gas shells, rubber bullets, and gunshots fired by the police, paramilitary, and Awami League goons. Mugdho would be gunned down by the police on 18 July 2024. He was one of roughly a thousand people killed in Bangladesh in July and August before Sheikh Hasina's ouster on August 5.