The BNP’s Islamist Dilemma

In November last year, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, a standing committee member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), asserted in an interview with an Indian daily, The Hindu, that the BNP is a secular party. He continued: “At one point, we had an alliance with the Jamaat [Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami] just the way political coalitions take place in democracies like India. That is now in the past.” 

However, following this statement, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the senior joint secretary-general of the party, contradicted it, claiming that the BNP’s stance differs. 

“Recently, the party’s national standing committee member Tuku discussed secularism, political Islam, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami,” Rizvi said, emphasizing that the expressed views, statements, and opinions are Tuku’s personal and have no association with the party itself. 

The BNP-led 20-party alliance, which included Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), dissolved in December 2022 following the BNP’s decision to sever ties and formalize the end of relations with the JI. This alliance, initially formed in 1999, won the 2001 national election as a four-party coalition. Over time, it expanded to a 20-party alliance in 2012 but remained largely inactive since the 2018 election amid allegations of vote rigging. 

The BNP had distanced itself from the JI due to widespread criticism for aligning with a party that opposed Bangladesh’s liberation in the 1971 war.

However, the BNP didn’t keep its distance even for a year. According to The Daily Star, a national daily of Bangladesh, before the Nayapaltan rally on October 28, 2023, BNP leaders reportedly reached out to Jamaat leaders to repair relations and jointly pressure the ruling Awami League to meet the BNP’s demand for elections under a neutral caretaker government. 

Tarique Rahman, the BNP’s acting chairperson who has been in exile in London since 2007, also communicated with top Jamaat leaders leading up to the rally. Following this, starting from October 31, the JI actively supported the BNP’s protest programs by enforcing nationwide blockades in tandem with the BNP.

It is evident that there are internal disagreements among the party leaders regarding the BNP’s relationship with the JI specially, and with political Islam more generally. Hence, the question arises: Why did Tuku make such a statement? 

It’s important to note the context of Tuku’s statement: an interview with a major Indian daily. It may be that Tuku had recognized that securing New Delhi’s backing was a necessary prerequisite for gaining Washington’s support. External pressure on the Awami League government was a crucial part of the opposition plan to secure a free and fair election. If this was Tuku’s calculation, it appears he assumed that the pursuit of New Delhi’s support entailed the transformation of the BNP into a secular entity, thereby reducing its affiliation with the JI.