After 17 years in exile, Tarique Rahman, the party’s leader and front-runner for the next prime minister in South Asia, was welcomed back to Dhaka on Thursday with a rousing welcome from thousands of supporters.
Rahman, long seen as a prince of Bangladeshi politics, got down at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, alongside his wife Zubaida and daughter Zaima, and stood barefoot on Bangladeshi soil amid heavy security.
Rahman’s symbolic gestures to mark his return to Bangladesh are significant victories for the BNP cadre and leaders. Following the ouster of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a student-led uprising, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been in place since August 2024. The Yunus administration has announced elections on February 12, after which it is to peacefully transfer power to an elected government.
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia, Rahman’s mother, has been in a critical condition since November 23. Rahman may soon be in charge of Bangladesh’s largest political party, the BNP.
So, here’s everything you need to know about him, his life in exile and the significance of his return for the South Asian nation.
Rahman, who is he?
Rahman, 60, is the eldest son of former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, who in 1991 became the country’s first female prime minister.
Rahman has been a member of the BNP since 2008 and has been there since 2018, when his ailing mother Zia was imprisoned under the rule of her political rival and then-prime minister Hasina.
He gained a significant public profile between 2001 and 2006 during his mother’s second term in power. But he also drew allegations of cronyism, corruption and political violence. These allegations were investigated by a military-backed caretaker government that seized power between 2006 and 2009.
He was detained by army units that stormed his upscale Dhaka home in the middle of the night in March 2007. Months later, he was released on bail and flew to the United Kingdom for medical treatment , — not returning until Thursday.
Rahman and the BNP have consistently said that the accusations against him are politically motivated, but his corruption resemblance extends far beyond his political rivals. In leaked diplomatic cables, American diplomat James F. Moriarty referred to Rahman as a “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics,” which were released by WikiLeaks in 2011.
Recommending blocking his entry into the United States, the American embassy in Dhaka wrote: “In short, much of what is wrong in Bangladesh can be blamed on Tarique and his cronies”.
Following that, the Awami League government found him guilty of money laundering, fraud, and political violence, including an attack on Hasina’s rally in 2004 that left at least 20 people dead.
However, the charges and convictions against Rahman have largely been dropped or overturned, facilitating his return to Dhaka following the uprising against Hasina in August 2024.
Addressing his supporters at a rally in Dhaka on Thursday, Rahman said, “Just like 1971, people from all walks of life, all together, defended the independence and sovereignty of this country in 2024”, referring to the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, and Hasina’s ouster last year.
He urged everyone to create a welcoming Bangladesh and declared, “It is time for us all to build the country together.” A secure Bangladesh is what we want to create. In Bangladesh, no matter who a woman, man, or child is, they should be able to leave their homes safely and return safely”.
Rahman was exiled, but why?
Since 1991, Khaleda and Hasina – two female leaders of opposing political dynasties – have alternated power for more than three decades, barring a few transitional heads.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding president, was killed along with the majority of his family in a military coup in August 1975. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had led the Awami League, rose to power after the death of her husband, former army chief Ziaur Rahman, who was the leader of a failed coup in May 1981.
The parties have fought political rivals for decades, with the exception of a brief moment when they briefly merged in the late 1980s to retake control of a military leader, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
In 2009, after Hasina returned to power in Dhaka after eight years in opposition, Zia’s BNP found itself on the other side of the crackdown during Hasina’s long, uninterrupted years of rule.
Rahman was flown to the UK in September 2008 after being released on bail after nearly 18 months of detention while the 2007-08 emergency rule prevented several BNP leaders and activists from experiencing abuse, jail, and trials.
What is the significance of Rahman’s return?
Hasina faced criticism last year for a popular student-led uprising after years at the helm of Dhaka. The protests started as a campaign against a contentious affirmative-action policy for government jobs, but they turned into more extensive demands for an end to her rule as a result of a brutal crackdown by security forces. The United Nations says up to 1, 400 people were killed.
Over her iron-fisted 15-year leadership, during which thousands of political opponents and critics were detained, murdered, tortured, or forcibly disappeared, anger grew. Hasina won overwhelmingly in 2014, 2018 and 2024 elections that are widely thought to be illegal.
Ultimately, protesters overran her residence after she fled Bangladesh by helicopter on August 5, 2024, to India.
After being found guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering the deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising, Hasina was given the death penalty by hanging last month. Her party’s Awami League is prohibited from participating in the February elections.
Meanwhile, interim leader Yunus met Rahman during a visit to London in June.
Rahman is also returning while Khaleda, Rahman’s mother, is recovering. According to some analysts, the BNP is now attempting to take over the political space created by the Awami League by adopting liberal, centrist, and secular positions. They cite the BNP’s recent breakup with the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist force and a longtime ally of Rahman’s party.
Former US diplomat Jon Danilowicz, who worked in Bangladesh for eight years, called Rahman’s return “the final piece in terms of Bangladesh’s election preparations.”
Rahman would have an opportunity to learn more about the country’s past 17 years, according to Danilowicz, and his fellow Bangladeshis would be able to see how he has changed as a result of leading the BNP campaign.
What position does the BNP hold in relation to the upcoming election?
In the upcoming elections, which would mark the party’s return to power after nearly 20 years, the BNP is seen as the frontrunner.
A December poll by a United States-based nonprofit, the International Republican Institute (IRI), showed the BNP leading with 30 percent support, followed by the Jamaat-e-Islami with 26 percent. In a multiparty contest, candidates don’t need a majority to prevail in a first-past-the-post system because Bangladesh uses that system.
Due to poor organization and limited resources, the National Citizen Party (NCP), which was founded by a group of student leaders following the uprising, has struggled to gain electoral strength. The party trails far behind the BNP, with just 6 percent support, according to the IRI poll.
Hasina’s Awami League’s participation in the election appears to be in the cards for a favorable electoral climate for Bangladesh after Yunus.
The former US diplomat Danilowicz argued that the upcoming election would be the result of the BNP’s defeat. “The party has shown great resilience over the past 17 years, it has been out of government, and party leaders have to face the full repressive force of the state,” he said.
Source: Aljazeera
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