Tarique Rahman now speaks a different language.
It is presumed that the BNP now wants to undergo a process of metamorphosis. This is partly due to realisation that the Yunus regime has harmed the country by its glorification of Jamaat-guided radicalism and visible towards Pakistan; and partly the western influence Tarique Rahman has had on him due to 17-year foreign stay.
There is a vacant slot in Bangladesh polity and that's called 'secular nationalism' and be a pragmatic 'peace loving' neighbour of elder brother India.
To "occupy" this void left by the Awami League – the BNP may have sever ties with radical Islamist forces. Tarique Rahman made the right noise when on his arrival he said Bangladesh belongs to all resligious communities including Hindus.
This marks a new beginning for BNP which now realises that the anti-India rhetoric and so-called historical 'baggage' could hamper its lomg term political and strategic interests.
Tarique Rahman with minority leaders including Hindus
There is a compulsion for BNP now to seek pluralistic politics.
Few people may be actually surprised. Addressing party supporters, Tarique Rehman invoked the blood-soaked memory of Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
He was also critical of Rawalpindi and the army generals as he said -- “people saw” what happened then.
He did not name the Jamaat, but the reference was clearly understood across Bangladesh and even by analysts in Delhi.
For freshers and Indian Sickular intellectuals (maybe); the Jamaat had opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.
Politics is always an affair between strange bedfellows.
The BNP under Khaleda Zia and Jamaat were pulled together by their shared opposition to the Awami League. But in general; the BNP always preferred a nationalist worldview at least on the face value.
On the other hand; the Islamic identity of most Bangladeshis is the raison d’etre of the Jamaat.
Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, historically the BNP’s principal rival, had over the decades proclaimed the mantle of a secular, liberal pillar in Bangladeshi politics.
It was also pro-India and it started all that in 1971 itself. The cooperation of the Hasina regime with the Manmohan Singh government helped India crush militancy in Assam and other northeastern states. And this had nothing to do with Hasina-Narendra Modi bonhomie.
The Jamaat is accused of misusing religion to seek votes. It is also accused of penetrating various vital institutions and offices in the country by planting their people in organisations such as civil service, judiciary, army, police and various other sectors.
It may be pointed out that BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has cautioned against "dividing" the country in the name of religion. He also stressed that the BNP’s politics ought to rest on national unity, democratic principles, and the foundational spirit of 1971.
This is not love for Mujib; Hasina's slain father. The BNP’s recent narrative suggests that it wants to appropriate the moral vocabulary.
Awami League founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman led the liberation struggle, but was also responsible for an independent Bangladesh’s early descent into authoritarianism.
He also banned all other political parties to try to set up a one-party system in 1975.
Hasina carried forward a mixed legacy.
She befriended Hindu-majority India.
But while in office between 2009 and 2024, she had banned the Jamaat and also arrested thousands of BNP leaders and workers.
Khaleda also faced hurdles and Tarique himself stayed in the UK for a long 17 years.
Anti-Awami narrative has been that the Hasina government’s ruthless crackdown on the political opposition had turned the 2014, 2018 and 2024 elections into a sham.
Now takeaways:
** BNP-Jamaat split did not surface overnight.
** Once Hasina's ouster and ban on Awami League was ensured; both parties have drifted apart over core questions.
Issues those widened the gulf of differences were:
-- Whether broader reforms must precede election?
-- How to restructure the Constitution?
__ What's the political model ... post-Hasina era ?
The Jamaat was guided by Pakistani mindset.
** That's essentially Punjabi-Muslim in spirit. It remained unmindful of Bengali sentiment and Bengali culture and literature.
** In Jamaat's perception; Rabindranath Tagore cannot come because he was Hindu.
*** The Jamaat pushed for sweeping structural changes before polls.
** BNP insisted on early elections and minimal constitutional revisions.
The clash reflects an ideological recalibration driven by the new political environment.
The centre-left, liberal-secular space that the Awami League once claimed is now vacant.
The BNP sees an opportunity to occupy it, before national elections scheduled for February.
BNP’s calculation is anchored in the shifting mood of the electorate. The youth-led uprising of 2024, the collapse of one-party authoritarianism, and the civic awakening of urban middle-class voters have all produced a renewed demand for democratic governance and political moderation.
ends
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