In a deeply flawed election that has reshaped Bangladesh’s political landscape, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies have swept to power, but the alarming ascent of Jamaat-e-Islami’s coalition to 77 seats signals a grim future for the country’s Hindu and other minority communities.
As radical Islamists enter parliament in significant numbers, fears of renewed persecution, mob violence, and erosion of secular values loom large, echoing unpunished atrocities from the past. They are also promoting exclusion of secularism from the Constitution, which recognises Islam as the state religion, through implementing the July Charter, raising concerns of further persecution.
The 13th National Parliament election, held on Thursday, without the participation of the banned Awami League—the party that had long safeguarded secularism and minority rights—saw BNP secure 212 out of 297 declared seats. BNP alone claimed 209, independents won 7 seats, and Islami Andolan Bangladesh managed one.
Jamaat-e-Islami, notorious for its collaboration with Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War genocide, emerged as the main opposition with 68 seats, including one for convicted war criminal ATM Azharul Islam. Its coalition partners—the Yunus-backed National Citizens Party (NCP) with 6 seats, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis under Mamunul Haque with 2, and another Khelafat faction with 1—bolster the bloc to 77.
This resurgence has sent shockwaves through minority groups, given Jamaat’s historical ties to dozens of militant organisations since 1992, including its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, which has dominated extremist activities.
Hindus, who form the largest religious minority in Bangladesh, have borne the brunt of such forces in the past. The BNP, now poised to form the government under Tarique Rahman—who returned from exile on December 25, 2025, after 17 years amid past allegations of terrorism and corruption—has a dark record of inhuman atrocities against minorities.
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In 1992, during 2001–2002, between 2012 and 2015, and in the chaotic period following August 5, 2024, BNP-led regimes or movements oversaw widespread persecution, including communal violence, jihadist attacks, and mob assaults. None of these acts has faced justice, nor has any apology been issued, leaving minorities in perpetual fear.
The 2024 anti-government uprising, fueled by BNP, Jamaat, and Hefazat-linked radicals, unleashed extreme violence that Jamaat later admitted to, including police killings, rapes, vandalism, looting, and arson after the Awami League’s fall. Since then, BNP and Jamaat-Shibir cadres have targeted Awami League leaders, activists, and minorities with fabricated murder cases—nearly 2,000 filed, most false—mob killings, mass arrests, property seizures, and land grabs.
Cultural institutions, places of worship, and shrines have been destroyed, while symbols of the 1971 Liberation War were vandalised, and freedom fighters insulted.
Under the Yunus-led interim administration, which critics describe as a “meticulously designed violent jihadist-army coup” in August 2024, a mobocracy took root. Hundreds were killed in revenge attacks, valuables were looted from homes and offices linked to the Awami League and minorities, and law enforcement was weaponised to suspend Awami League activities, arrest thousands, and facilitate extrajudicial killings by police and prison authorities. Over 16,000 cases were withdrawn, trials halted, and thousands released, including convicted war criminals, top terrorists, and militants tied to the regime change. Conversely, the International Crimes Tribunal Act was illegally revised for revenge trials against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with inconsistent evidence.
Economic sabotage compounded the minorities’ plight: public money was plundered through inflated development projects, companies were launched amid conflicts of interest, controversial agreements were signed, factories were closed, leading to job cuts, and exports were hampered. Hundreds of corruption cases were filed against Awami League members, with farcical trials, while the perpetrators of past communal violence from 1991–1996, 2001–2006, and 2009 onward evaded accountability.
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The recent election, marred by vote rigging and an illegal referendum, further entrenches these threats. Despite 80 minority candidates contesting—68 from 22 registered parties (out of 60, with Awami League banned) and 12 independents—only four won, all BNP nominees.
These include Goyeshwar Chandra Roy (Dhaka-3, 98,785 votes), Nitai Roy Chowdhury (Magura-2, 147,896 votes)—who are related as “beyais”—Saching Pru (Bandarban, 141,455 votes), and Dipen Dewan (Rangamati, 201,544 votes).
BNP fielded six minorities, and Jamaat and NCP fielded one each (both defeated), while leftist parties like the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) fielded 17, highlighting minorities’ broader political engagement but limited success.
Notably, 77% of these 79 minority candidates (initially 88 nominations, with 5 invalidated and 3 withdrawn) are highly educated—graduates, postgraduates, or PhD holders—yet their representation remains tokenistic. Professions include 34% businesspeople and 16% lawyers, with women comprising 10 candidates (12.66%), mostly from leftist parties.
As Nirmal Rozario, co-president of the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, noted: “Until minorities can influence political decisions, their rights, development, and existence cannot be protected. They must engage more in politics and elections.”
However, with Jamaat’s Pakistan-leaning, India-hostile stance gaining parliamentary legitimacy, experts warn of perpetuated mob terrorism, assassinations, and vengeful politics. Journalists, researchers, and Awami League figures fear that unchecked jihadist patronage threatens regional peace and Bangladesh’s secular fabric.
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Critical questions remain: Will the new BNP government end the Yunus-era mobocracy, killings, land grabs, nepotism, and corruption? Will it lift the Awami League ban, scrap illegal ordinances, and halt militancy’s rise?
For Hindus and other minorities—Christians, Buddhists, and ethnic groups like Chakmas and Marmas—the future appears bleak. Historical patterns suggest vulnerability to persecution will persist, with no safeguards against radical forces now embedded in parliament.
As one analyst put it: “How can we expect a better future when the architects of past atrocities hold the reins?” Bangladesh’s hard-won secularism hangs by a thread, demanding urgent international scrutiny to protect its diverse communities.
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