Bangladesh Nationalist Party was thrust back into governance after its landslide victory on February 12, 2026. Yet widespread speculation holds that today’s BNP has drifted from the nationalist ideology of its founder, President Ziaur Rahman. It was no secret that party leaders approached the Indian ruling authority, at least from 2018, to position themselves as an alternative to the Awami League, which continued to slide in public esteem. India kept playing.
Earlier, the BNP had been ousted in what amounted to a palace coup staged by army chief General Moeen U Ahmed on January 11, 2007, the event known popularly as the 1/11 betrayal. India was believed to be behind the act. Pitching the Islamist card, Delhi’s strategists brought the US and a few Western entities along, warning that if the BNP returned to power Bangladesh would become a bastion of fundamentalism, a fear amplified after 9/11. It was a false flag. The South Asian nation has been a moderate Muslim country for centuries and never espoused extremist ideologies, not even during the era of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The India Factor
India’s interest in Bangladesh lay elsewhere. Since the British left the subcontinent, Hindu India was never at ease between its two Muslim neighbours. J.N. Dixit, a former Indian Foreign Secretary, was candid when he wrote in Liberation and Beyond (1999) that separating the eastern part from Pakistan’s west was as old an Indian agenda as their birth in 1947. What Dixit left unspoken was India’s hegemonic eye on its eastern neighbour for economic and geostrategic reasons. Events since then bear this out. The hawkish Pakistani leaders in both the civil service and the military were equally responsible for creating the conditions that led to the 1971 conflict. The Awami League followed the Indian line and was content to serve as a pawn in that game, from Tajuddin Ahmad through Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Sheikh Hasina. With the fall of Mujib in 1975, New Delhi lost control over Bangladesh. Its intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), however, was not idle. RAW reportedly maintains tens of thousands of agents in Bangladesh to promote Indian interests. At the same time, the agency kept cultivating Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Mujib who lived in exile in New Delhi following her father’s assassination. RAW succeeded in placing its protege in state power in 1996. After a short break, the 1/11 episode put India back in the driving seat. The military controlled election of 2008 gave the Indian protege full control. That New Delhi received its fleeing protege with open arms when an angry student and public uprising swept Dhaka on August 5, 2024, also speaks to their close and mutually beneficial relationship.
After August 5, New Delhi intensified its activities with an alternate front: the BNP. Strategically quiet Awami elements remained on board. Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya and other political activists never tired of warning about the schemes of what they called the India, Awami League, and BNP trio. This alliance, critics alleged, helped the BNP in the February 12 elections. On the other hand, Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Interim Government chief since August 8, 2024, appeared to have been misled into believing that the BNP upheld the values of the uprising known as July 36. He also failed to bring the opposing forces, both within and outside the system, fully under control. At 85, the Nobel Laureate had perhaps lost much of the energy needed to tackle the intricacies and ruthlessness of politics.
Accomplishments of the Interim Government
Professor Yunus started well. Riding a wave of local support and international goodwill, his accomplishments in the first year were significant by any standard. Drawing on the recommendations of several reform commissions, his team carried out visible reforms in finance, banking, administration, healthcare, labour rights, women’s rights, the judiciary, and the electoral system. Many wrongs of the past were corrected. Perhaps the team’s biggest achievements came in improving law and order and restoring political freedom after the fascist police state. The hardest task, though, was reforming an administration built to serve authoritarian rule for almost two decades. A few prominent figures of the old regime were neutralised, but vast numbers remained in place, many of them suspected of still serving the interests of their former benefactors. Many criminals, including Sheikh Hasina, have been brought to trial; some received capital sentences, while proceedings against others continue. The future of these legal outcomes, however, remains in question given the perceived shift in perspective under the new administration, which critics suspect operates under RAW guidance.
The Beneficiaries of the July Biplob
The largest beneficiary of the July Biplob (revolution) is the BNP, even though the party made little or no contribution to the movement and shied away from it when the protesting students sought its support. Its Chairperson, Begum Khaleda Zia; Acting Chairperson, Tareque Rahman; Secretary General, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir; senior leader Salahuddin Ahmed (who had been living in Shillong, said to be under RAW hospitality); Lutfuzzaman Babar (sentenced to death in the August 21 grenade attack case); and hundreds of others were freed from their serious legal entanglements of the previous era. The cases against Professor Yunus were also dropped. All or most of these cases were said to be politically motivated. Many judges and prosecutors from the fascist era were either retired or compelled to quit. The vacancies were filled by BNP aligned jurists.
What is ironic is that the BNP, the largest beneficiary of the July 36 Biplob, now denies the revolution, its জুলাই সনদ (July Declaration, the charter of reform demands), and the outcome of the referendum (which passed with roughly 69 percent support) on flimsy grounds. The party also continues to deny the significance of August 15, 1975, the event that brought Ziaur Rahman to prominence and made the BNP possible. It is like denying one’s own parentage. Critics have begun to say: “Betrayal, thy name is BNP.”
Avail the Moment of Glory, Mr. Prime Minister
Mr. Prime Minister, the July 36 Revolution has afforded you a moment of glory. Honour it in the most befitting manner. This is a rare opportunity bestowed on you by the Almighty (SWT) to prove that you are the son of Shaheed (martyred) President Ziaur Rahman and Desh Netri (Leader of the Nation) Begum Khaleda Zia. Do not be swayed by the scheming and opportunistic people within and outside the party. Be guided by your own conscience. Your focus, Mr. Tareque Rahman, should be your people; your promise is to them and your country. You need to stand on their side and fulfil their suppressed aspirations. If the people are with you, no force can harm or distract you. But you must earn their trust, Sir, the way your great father did.
Remember what a great person Ziaur Rahman was. Recall the love and respect he earned from the people. সারা বাংলার ধানের শীষে, জিয়া তুমি আছো মিশে (“Zia is woven into the sheaf of paddy across all of Bangladesh”) echoed the hearts of millions after his tragic assassination. The streams of mourners at his Mazar (mausoleum) went on for days, for months, for years. (I witnessed it myself a year later, visiting the place at midnight.) Globally, he is remembered with admiration. Begum Zia dedicated her life to establishing democracy and defending people’s rights. Millions showed their love and respect at her passing. Such devotion is worth a million times more than any earthly gain, even in death. These are moments of glory, Mr. Prime Minister. I beseech you to earn yours.
And above all, Mr. Prime Minister, honour the blood and sacrifice of the July 36. তাদের হৃদয়ের ক্রন্দন ১৮ কোটি প্রাণে বাজে (“Their cries resonate in 180 million hearts”). May Allah (SWT) be on our side.