In my view, the elaborate poll preparations under media glare are no more than a smoke screen to buy peace with overseas supporters of the regime
by Malladi Rama Rao*
It is difficult not to sympathise with Muhammad Yunus, the interim Tsar of Bangladesh.
The economist turned politician took over the reins of the country in a revolt engineered by students in July, 2024. And on the first anniversary of the revolt, he announced that general elections would be held in coming February.
Fair enough.
This readiness to face the ballot deserves praise since political Tsars are generally loath to give up power.
Forget praise, he is facing brickbats from the nationalist parties, Islamist parties (like Hefazat -e-Islam, Hizb-ut-Tahrir), which have become one too many in recent times, and the Leftists, whose number is dwindling.
Even human rights champions have joined the chorus against Yunus.
Hope of 2024 has turned into frustration now, says an Aug 16 report in NYT, the Big Apple’s high priest of Democracy.
Well, in a manner of speaking, Yunus has to blame himself for the mess that Bangladesh is in today. It is this reality that pops up the question mark over the poll date, and in fact, the credibility of the ballot.
About these concerns, a little while later.
First about Yunus rule.
Both acolytes and critics alike have a funny take on his governance model – Governed by Face Book Posts and ruled by confusion.
Ability to meltdown under slightest pressure from the right wing has become the hallmark of his regime.
The regime is very accommodative of Islamist demands, according to The Daily Star, a leading English publication from Dhaka.
Distinguished economist Debapriya Bhattacharya has an interesting take. “It is now quite clear that the formal government we see has another government within it. This is no longer a secret — it is clearly visible”, he says.
Noted academic H M Nazmul Alam sees authoritarian tendencies in the Yunus regime. “Yunus is in Hasina (deposed Premier Sheik Hasina) footsteps, and is strengthening her legacy of fear”, he says, and cites the interim government’s recent warning to the media, and the attacks on journalists.
Global egg-head, Tim Worstall of the Adam Smith Institution in London speaks of systemic corruption in the country, and says, the corruption rating for Bangladesh is only just better than that of Talibanised Afghanistan.
The spectre of extremism has made even the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, to sound alarm.
“A form of extremism is on the rise in Bangladesh. We must not allow it to grow unchecked. If we do, the very existence of Bangladesh will be threatened,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in Dhaka on Friday, Aug 22, while speaking at a function jointly organised by BNP and the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Welfare Fund to mark the birthday of a Hindu God.
Institutionalised Islam is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. Military ruler General Zia-ur Rehman (husband of BNP supremo Khaleda Zia), laid the seeds of Islamism in the country when he amended the constitution and inserted “Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim” (“in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful”) in the preamble.
The principle of secularism was removed from the Constitution in 1977 and almost a decade later Islam was declared the state religion.
The short point is Talibanisation of Bangladesh had begun long before Taliban appeared in Kabul.
Evidence in public domain shows that Sheik Hasina, who is hailed as the secular leader, looked the other way even as minority groups were being subjected to disenfranchisement.
Laments a Dhaka intellectual thus: “Bangladesh, once a shining beacon in the Muslim world, may just have become a textbook case of how not to go about a regime change.”
Writing for the US think tank, Gatestone Institute (Aug1, 2025), Anna Mahjar-Barducci opines that the rise of radical Islamic influence under Yunus’s watch threatens to transform Bangladesh from a secular democracy into a theocratic state.
According to her, Yunus government lifted the bans imposed on Jamaat-e-Islami, its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir, and ‘all associated organizations’.
Islamist candidates from Jamaat-e-Islami will be allowed to run in the next elections, but not the secular Awami candidates since their party stands banned.
The interim regime also freed from prison hundreds of jihadists.
Over the past year of Hasina free era, Islamist flags and ‘Islamic State’ banners have become common sight in Dhaka.
So much so, a Bangladesh radical group, Jamaat-Char Monai, declaring its intent to model country on Taliban-run Afghanistan does not come as a surprise.
In an interview with Khalded Muhiuddin, US-based Bangladeshi journalist and editor-in-chief of Thikana News, Char Monai Pir, Mufti Syed Muhammad Faizul Karim, said, “If govt is formed by winning the national election, the Islamic Movement Bangladesh will introduce Sharia law in the country. The current governance system of Afghanistan will be followed”.
Local media reports speak of a “calculated” attempt by Jamaat-e-Islami and fellow Islamists to “marginalise, discredit, and ultimately eliminate” BNP from the electoral contest.
Whether through student violence, engineered unrest or ideological de-legitimisation, Jamaat appears to be laying the groundwork for a dramatic reshaping of Bangladesh’s opposition, the reports say.
This development naturally puts the BNP in a dilemma.
Balancing act, the Awami League had perfected under Sheik Hasina, is a tough proposition for Khaleda Zia, who has been cultivating the Islamist voters even as she championed a pluralistic society.
A new development that will have a bearing on Dhaka scene is Bangladeshi workers powering global jihad by a group named Gerakan Militan Radical Bangladesh (GMRB).
A couple of months ago, some Bangladeshi expatriate workers were nabbed in Malaysia while covertly collecting funds for Islamic State (ISIS), Al Qaeda, and other terrorist outfits in both Syria and Bangladesh.
Large Bangladeshi migrant population has become local work force not only in Malaysia but also in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and nations in the European Union.
Many of these workers are reportedly not ethnic Bangladeshis, but Rohingyas and ‘stranded Pakistanis’ (in Bangladesh after East Pakistan became liberated), who had obtained Bangladeshi passports through illegal channels.
As award-winning Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury remarked in his commentary for Gatestone Institute (July 25, 2025), the country has become fertile ground for Islamic extremism after the 2024 jihadist-backed political shift.
“Extremist groups now see an opportunity to dismantle secular governance and establish an Islamic theocracy under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus. Both ISIS and Al-Qaeda are exploiting this instability to expand their regional footprint”, according to him.
Interestingly, jihadist leaders from Hamas and the Taliban reportedly made high-profile visits to Bangladesh, receiving open support from local Islamist groups like Hefazat-e-Islam, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic Constitution Movement, and Ansar Al-Islam – an Al Qaeda franchise in Bangladesh.
These individuals collect and transfer funds through illegal hawala channels, evading financial oversight and counterterrorism monitoring.
Noteworthy in this context is August 20, 2024 manifesto of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The 14-page manifesto, titled “Bangladesh: The Emerging Hope of Supporting Islam for the Muslim Masses”, has called on jihadists to “continue their struggle to turn Bangladesh into a regional hub for Islamic rule”.
Viewed against these unfolding jihadi events, Yunus regime’s initial reluctance to hold early general elections merits renewed attention.
Because it raises doubts as to whether Yunus would honour his poll commitment.
For obvious reasons.
It is pertinent to point out that Yunus had proposed elections in April 2026 but was forced to roll back his plan by one of his main props – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP. Khaleda Zia was keen on the ballot before this year is out but her enthusiasm for early polls is not shared by her one-time strong ally – Jamaat -e – Islam, JeI.
In fact, Jamaat and other Islamist Parties are in favour of local bodies’ elections ahead of the general election.
This is their way of capturing power at the grassroot level.
They are advocating proportional voting system in place of the present First Past the Post practice which is followed in countries like India. They also want Yunus to complete the ‘reform’ process he has initiated to change the entrenched Hasina model.
The Interim Tsar has no problem to go along with their demand.
And in fact, he toyed with the idea of putting off ballot for a while.
But finding himself pushed to a corner by international players- WB and US for instance- he had turned for his bail out towards BNP, a party, which he had been ignoring in recent months.
No doubt the poll body is going on full throttle to hold the 13th general election since Bangladesh became liberated from Pakistani yoke.
In my view, the elaborate poll preparations under media glare are no more than a smoke screen to buy peace with overseas supporters of the regime.
Right from Day One of his regime, Yunus has left no room to believe that he is a caretaker or interim ruler.
As pointed at the very outset, he has been liberal in yielding to the pressures of the Islamist lobby, which has become broad based under his benign rule.
Several policy decisions have been rolled back just to please them.
Poll date rollback could be yet another such decision.
(*Malladi Rama Rao is senior journalist based in New Delhi whose expertise lies in studies of geo-political developments of the Indian subcontinent)
