While BNP has called for early polls, Yunus government wants reforms first, which many suspect may include replacing secular constitution with Islamic one
Bangladesh's interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus may have successfully pushed the ousted Awami League on the back foot, but it is running into conflict with the country’s other leading political party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Sensing a clear chance of winning the parliamentary elections if it is held soon, the BNP leadership is now at loggerheads with Yunus as well as the student leaders and the Islamist parties backing him.
The BNP clearly wants elections within the next few months and is uncomfortable with Yunus pitching for polls in mid-2026 after completing what he describes as "reforms essential for the future of Bangladesh democracy."
Watch | Bangladesh: BNP pressure, minorities attacked; Yunus running out of time?
Plan for Islamic state
But the BNP, like the Awami League, has raised a basic question over Yunus’ locus standi to pursue an agenda for reforms. Its leaders argue that any comprehensive reforms should be carried out by an elected parliament and not an interim government which has a tenuous constitutional basis.
On the other hand, radical parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, with an unconcealed agenda to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state, have backed Yunus on his plans for reforms before elections.
The Jamaat, which is yet to apologise for supporting the Pakistani genocide during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, has gone all out to push the Yunus administration to restore bilateral relations with Pakistan after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government in August last year.
It sees in the current political climate a huge opportunity to undo the secular-linguistic edifice of Bengali nationalism and supplant it with a radical Islamist ideology clearly aimed at undermining minority and gender rights.
Also read: Bangladesh fights to find those forced to disappear by Sheikh Hasina’s regime
Students on Islamist bandwagon
The student leaders, mostly educated in religious seminaries, have unhesitatingly jumped into the Islamist bandwagon with calls to replace the 1972 secular Constitution with one driven by Shariat laws.
One of them, Sargis Alam, described the Jamaat-e-Islami student front, Islamic Chatra Shibir, as " comrades " in the oust-Hasina campaign while another student leader Hasnat Abdullah has openly challenged the BNP's push for early elections.
"So many young people have not died to see one fascist dispensation replaced by another," Hasnat told the media in response to the BNP's call for early elections.
Also read: We are firmly behind Yunus govt, not keen on politics: Bangladesh Army chief
Secularism a facade
Bangladesh's leading constitutional expert Barrister Tania Amir says the student leaders with Jamaat-e-Islami’s backing have definite plans to undo the key features of the 1972 Constitution with those emanating from hardline Islamist ideology.
"That is why they want much time because they want a new Constitution in place before any election is held," Amir told The Federal in an interview. "The West is yet to see through the plans to hijack the democracy movement to create an Islamist state in Bangladesh."
"The liberal facade of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is smartly used by the Islamic parties, marginal players in post-independence Bangladesh, to fool the West about their real mission. The reforms they plan are to create a theocracy and not a democracy," said Selim Mahmud, a law professor in Dhaka University heading the Awami League's Information Office.
Also read: Bangladesh link under India's scanner for 'import' of explosives, training militants
BNP opposes Jamaat plans
The BNP, which backed the student agitation to get rid of its bête noire Awami League, seems to have now seen through these plans.
Their leaders have firmly opposed dumping the 1972 Constitution and challenging the legacy of the Liberation War. They are downplaying their past alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami as "merely for political convenience and not one based on ideological compatibility."
The BNP is a centrist party founded by military dictator General Ziaur Rahman, who had fought in the 1971 Liberation War. It realises any surge in religiosity will help Islamic parties like Jamaat.
On the other hand, with the Awami League on the back foot, the BNP clearly fancies usurping the Liberation War legacy by highlighting Zia's declaration of independence on March 27, 1971.
India's backing for BNP
The US, which strongly backed the oust-Hasina movement and the Yunus-led interim government, may change course.
Outgoing US ambassador in India, Eric Garcetti, called for early elections in Bangladesh to "restore the democratic process" during a press conference in Kolkata. Garcetti called on India to work closely with US to "strengthen democracy in Bangladesh" in what many feel is a subtle appeal to Delhi to cooperate with the Yunus administration.
Also read: Bangladesh demands Hasina's return; what are India's options?
India has not only sheltered ousted Hasina but also recently extended her residential permit after the Yunus administration called for her extradition to stand trial in dozens of cases filed against her.
Delhi is clearly worried over the Yunus government’s move of releasing convicted Islamist terrorists like Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) chief Jashimuddin Rahmani. So, if the BNP raises the ante over early elections and the Awami League echoes the same, Delhi may not only support it but try influencing the incoming Donald Trump administration to push for early elections.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
