There are two ideas of Bangladesh. One begins with the country’s birth story. The other goes back to the time before Bangladesh existed. During the current chaotic period in the country’s political history—post-Sheikh Hasina’s dramatic exit and Muhammad Yunus taking over as chief advisor of the interim government—it is important to remember that Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan till 1971.
It is at this intersection of Bangladesh’s history as part of Pakistan and its emergence as a sovereign people’s republic, with secularism as one of its fundamental principles, that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in the country, stands as a stark reminder of what was and what could be again.
As 15 uninterrupted years of Hasina’s rule come to an end, attempts are being made to wipe out her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s legacy. Many Bangladesh watchers claim that Jamaat is trying to take control of the narrative by sidelining its former ally, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), thus turning the clock back to before Bangladesh began.
Ban on Jamaat lifted
Talking to ThePrint, Veena Sikri, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh from 2003 to 2006, said that the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, played a central and significant role in the events leading to the interim government’s appointment.
“It remains so to the day, both in the government’s decision-making processes, as well as through the control of students’ groups and activities. The Islamist political parties are the only ones to be represented within the interim government, through the Islami Andolan Bangladesh[a major Islamist political outfit],” she said.
And while it has been more than a month since Hasina fled to India, news of attacks on minorities and attempts at reshaping Bangladesh into an Islamic nation continue to trickle in.
In a Bangladesh alert posted on X on 4 August, senior foreign policy columnist Seema Sirohi said, “Jamaat is free, meaning the ban is lifted. Professors who happen to be Hindu are forced to resign. There is a demand to change the national anthem. Next steps: Sharia law and all who don’t conform must be punished. No Nobel laureate can fix it. Most know that.”
Bangladesh alert: Jamaat is free, meaning the ban is lifted. Professors who happen to be Hindu are forced to resign. There is a demand to change the national anthem.
Next steps: Sharia law and all who don't conform must be punished.
No Nobel laureate can fix it. Most know that.
— Seema Sirohi (@seemasirohi) September 4, 2024
In its earlier avatar, the Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed the very formation of Bangladesh. In its later avatar as the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, it tied up with the BNP—the country’s principal opposition party when Hasina was in power—to form the government. In the two BNP-led governments under former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia (from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006), the Jamaat’s ministers sat in the government.
When out of power, the two parties took to the streets to protest against the Hasina government. The Jamaat openly advocated for Sharia law in Bangladesh and was barred by the Bangladesh Supreme Court from participating in the 7 January elections this year.
Now that Hasina has fled to India and the ban on the Jamaat has been formally lifted, does the party see the BNP as an obstacle for an Islamist Bangladesh?
Also read: Mobs are still calling the shots in Bangladesh. Yunus government appears weak to act
Awami League/BNP binary
In an interview with The Daily Star on 30 August, BNP secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, clarified that no BNP-Jamaat alliance exists now. He also said that while the BNP is prepared to give the interim government enough time to implement necessary reforms, that time will not be “indefinite”.
“We must clear the remnants of the past and build a truly democratic Bangladesh,” he said.
A Dhaka-based political journalist who did not wish to be named claimed that the BNP had thought it had a good chance of coming to power again after Hasina’s exit. “But the events that are unfolding in the country post-5 August are not working in the BNP’s favour. The party is now sidelined as the Jamaat takes control of the political vacuum created by Hasina’s exit. The BNP-Jamaat alliance had to fall through,” he told ThePrint.
Be it Hasina or the BNP, major political parties in Bangladesh have flirted with Islamist forces in the past to stay in power. Though her stance on the Jamaat changed later, Hasina had once sided with it, as did the BNP. Later, to keep other fundamentalist groups in check, Hasina aligned with the far-right Islamist coalition Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh.
Now, these Islamist groups have become a force unto themselves.
Jamaat-e-Islami leaders recently held a meeting with Bangladesh’s top Qawmi scholars, where participants voiced support for establishing a country based on Islamic rules under the leadership of current Jamaat chief Dr Shafiqur Rahman.
“From now on, we are all for each other. We will all be united like a wall made of lead. I apologize to you if I have hurt you in the past. I hope you will forgive us,” Rahman said in his address.
Dhaka Tribune quoted Maulana Azizul Haque Islamabadi, joint secretary general of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, as saying in the meeting: “The Jamaat Ameer has blessed everyone by bringing together the scholars of all Markaz. This unity, or a greater unity, will be of no use if we cannot unite in the battle of the ballots. Our country is a democratic country. So we have to move towards a democratic system.”
Jamaat’s flex comes at a time when the Awami League/BNP binary is broken in Bangladesh politics. With the fall of Hasina and attacks on Awami League leaders, supporters, and workers across the country, the chances of the party regrouping for the next round of elections—whenever they take place—are slim at the moment.
The Jamaat had needed the BNP when Hasina was their common enemy. With Hasina out of the picture and other Islamist parties in Bangladesh rallying behind it, the Jamaat now views the BNP as simply a political hurdle.
Bangladeshi academic and political commentator Naomi Shahjahan Sharin told ThePrint that the split between the BNP and Jamaat shows the former has abandoned the latter’s call for an Islamist state.
“It[the split] also shows how confident the Jamaat is today to emerge as an autonomous political party without the help of any major political party. Jamaat’s resurgence is the biggest setback for the idea of a modern, secular Bangladesh. With every passing day, the Jamaat is extending its control over the interim government, the media, educational institutions, and civil society. Currently, there seems to be no political force in Bangladesh that can stop its Islamist march,” she said.
Old Jamaat in new bottle?
During the bloody birth of Bangladesh, the Jamaat-e-Islami backed the idea of East Pakistan and joined hands with Pakistan Army in mass killings and rapes of Bangladeshi nationalists and intellectuals. In independent Bangladesh, the Jamaat in its new avatar as Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has remained a minor political force with a vice-like grip on the country’s civil society.
Its influence became evident as recently as August last year when an estimated 50,000 people attended the funeral of top Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, who was sentenced to death in 2013 for rape, murder, and the persecution of Hindu Bangladeshis during the country’s war for independence in 1971, Al Jazeera reported.
Hasina’s government banned Jamaat on 1 August, four days before she stepped down and fled the country she had ruled for 15 years. Now, the interim government led by Yunus has lifted the ban.
As reports of attacks on minorities trickle in every day, the Jamaat has been busy trying to put out a new, acceptable face for the world. Jamaat chief Rahman has said his party wants harmonious and stable ties with India but Delhi needs to reconsider its foreign policy in the neighbourhood, as bilateral relations do not entail interfering in each other’s internal issues.
Rahman has also called upon citizens to remain vigilant during the upcoming Durga Puja so that no attacks on minorities take place and communal harmony is maintained.
But that’s just for optics. On 30 August, speaking at a public rally, Islami Andolan Bangladesh leader Syed Faizul Karim said, “Long live Islamic fundamentalism. We believe in Islamic fundamentalism. None has been able to do politics excluding Muslim fundamentalists and none shall be able to,” The Diplomat reported.
The report said that a section of Bangladesh’s civil society members consider various recent incidents as warning signs. Among these are the public rallies and poster campaign by the banned terror group, Hizb ut Tahrir and the release of Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, an Al-Qaeda-inspired militant outfit also known as Ansar-al Islam.
“Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami’s inflated political influence will be a shot in the arm for Islamic fundamentalist elements in the region, mainly for its brother Jamaats in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. It would be a fillip for Islamist forces, like the Muslim Brotherhood, spanning across the world,” read an opinion piece in The New Indian Express.
The question is, with Hasina’s Awami League beleaguered for now, can the Jamaat’s former ally, the BNP, stop its political march for an Islamist Bangladesh?
Deep Halder is an author and journalist. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)