Bangladesh Is on Boil Yet Again

New Delhi: Two and a half years after the “July Uprising” that led to regime change in Dhaka, Bangladesh is on boil again. With the labour unrest fast spreading across major parts of the country, the public outrage is now spilling over to the agriculture sector with farmers protesting against fertilisers shortage and people angry over rising cost of living, electricity, food and LPG shortage. In light of the rising tide of discontent and the large-scale multi-pronged protests erupting inside Bangladesh, the Awami League (AL) seems to have gained ground and weight and with the announcement of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina insisting on returning to Bangladesh another chapter is unfolding.

A galvanised AL cadre is back on streets trying to reclaim its political space. Violent clashes were reported between ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and AL workers at several places in the last two days even as Dhaka continues to blame “foreign hand” saying the unrest has been instigated from “across the border,” without directly naming India.

After calling a nationwide bandh on Tuesday that saw clashes with police and BNP, AL workers are out in the open from hiding and hunting down those who had attacked and butchered their cadres during the July Uprising. One man named Hasif, who waved Sheikh Hasina’s undergarments after a mob vandalised her Dhaka residence in 2024, was chased and attacked by AL cadres in his hometown. National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders were also targeted, and a petrol bomb was allegedly hurled at the home of NCP Joint Convener and Member of Parliament Nusrat Tabassum Joty in Kushtia. The NCP has blamed AL workers.

AL has been banned as a political party in Bangladesh since 2024 and cannot contest elections. But the party is determined to take back its political space.

AL workers have threatened the BNP government that if anything happens to Ms Hasina upon her return to Dhaka, the whole country will burn. Top leaders of AL have also started returning to Bangladesh. Former Awami League MP Mr Ranajit Sarker appeared on media claiming he’s inside Bangladesh right now and revealed that many AL leaders including former MPs have already entered the country and are working for Ms Hasina’s homecoming. A couple days back Mr Sarker spoke at a midnight rally in Sunamganj and told his party “to prepare for the ultimate sacrifice” against extremism, militancy, and communalism. “The souls of the 3 million martyrs and the women of 1971 will never forgive us if we fail to restore Bangladesh,” he said.

The AL has announced a three-day nationwide “public outreach and protest programme from November 14 to 16 to demand “the restoration of democracy, constitutional rights, justice and public security.” During this period the party will hold rallies, carry out publicity campaigns and engage in public outreach.

The ruling BNP has also stepped up its political activities on the streets to counter AL. “We are not the kind of political party that would simply sit back and wait for the authorities to intervene while a banned party holds processions -- we do not depend on any government force or agency. Our leader Tarique Rahman has instructed us not to leave the streets. All our party leaders and activists are on alert, and our presence on the streets remains strong,” said Abdul Quiyum Choudhury, a member of the BNP chairman’s advisory council.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman questioned the allegations made by Bangladesh government’s functionaries about Jamaat leaders meeting Indian intelligence agencies to destabilise the BNP government. He denied any history of Jamaat meeting foreign intelligence agencies and alleged that those accusing his party of such links had themselves met foreign agencies, “both at home and abroad.”

Mr Shafiqur made the remarks in response to Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed's statement in which the minister said that “provocations were coming from across the border” adding “programmes were announced from across the border, whether protests, strikes or otherwise, aimed to create instability”. He alleged that the public was aware of secret meetings between senior leaders of a political party and representatives of foreign organisations in Dhaka.