"Bhul na korley ei shob hoto na" --- "We would not have faced such situations had we not done anything wrong ::::: Awami League historically revolved around a single, dominant figure .... After 2008, AL underwent transformation & isolated middleclass

The trajectory of Awami Lwague, from a liberation vanguard to a dominant, heavily personalised, and allegedly autocratic political machine within a span of a few decades, is nonetheless interesting.

Despite having a collective leadership in its formative years, AL has historically revolved around a single, dominant figure. 

After 2008, AL of Bangladesh underwent a deep transformation, alienating it from its traditional roots, the middle-class. 

It indulged in a culture of cronyism, power worship, and sycophancy. And it suffered as a result.  

The Bangladesh Awami League, commonly known as the Awami League was founded on 23 June 1949.

It played a vital role in the country's struggle for independence. The party had maintained a sole dominance over the country's political system between 2009 and 2024, before being ousted in the July Uprising. 

Since May 2025, all activities of the party are banned in Bangladesh.

On 23 June 1949, the party was founded as the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League, and after 1955 as the East Pakistan Awami League, by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Yar Mohammad Khan, Shamsul Huq, and 

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

It was eventually established as the provincial party of the All-Pakistan Awami League, founded by Huseyn Suhrawardy which was the alternative to the domination of the Muslim League in Pakistan and over centralization of the government. 

The party had quickly gained vast popular support in East Pakistan. 

From the 1950s, the Bangalee Muslim middle-class emerged as a dominant social force. AL cultivated language-based nationalism among them over a span of two decades, paving the way for a new country - Bangladesh. 

According to 'The Daily Star' of Dhaka, Awami League’s birth was not an accident. 

Conditions were ripe. A section of the disgruntled rank-and-file of the ruling Muslim League (ML) convened a meeting in Dhaka on June 23, 1949, to voice their grievances. 

From there emerged the idea of forming a political party of ML supporters outside the orbit of the official Muslim League dominated by the political elite centred at the Ahsan Manzil. 

The contradiction between ML and AL sharpened in a couple of years, centring the debate on the state language issue. Subsequently, AL emerged as a formidable opposition party.