Bangladesh turmoil: What is the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the main Opposition to Sheikh Hasina’s government?

Bangladesh's political turmoil: Sheikh Hasina resigns, Khaleda Zia released, Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus heads interim government. Read more on The Hindu

The story so far: In a shocking turn of events, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Dhaka on August 5, as protests in the capital escalated, with thousands of protestors soon entering the Prime Minister’s official residence. She is currently in India, considering asylum options in a third country.

Khaleda Zia, ex-Prime Minister and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as well as imprisoned protestors have now been released. Nobel laureaute Mohammed Yunus will head an interim government, fulfilling a chief demand of the student protestors; he took oath on Thursday (August 8, 2024) along with 13 of his 16 member cabinet.

Also Read: Bangladesh protests updates

What started as a student protest over quotas accorded to freedom fighters in government jobs morphed into a protest against Ms. Hasina and the Awami League Party. Protestors demanded the resignation of Ms. Hasina as a single-point priority, while the government alleged that the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami were behind the agitation.

The BNP has been a dominant political force in the nation since it was founded in 1978. We take a look at the party as it stands today, its participation in the protests and its calls for Ms. Hasina’s resignation, alleging erosion of civil liberties under her regime.

The BNP was founded on September 1, 1978 by General Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, who was to later become president of Bangladesh, and a host of freedom fighters, including physician A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury, lawyer Moudud Ahmed and politician Mashiur Rahman.

The BNP’s core tenet is Bangladeshi Nationalism, which it has defined on its website as “an ideology that recognizes the right of Bangladeshis from all walks of life, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender or race.” The party had adopted a 19-point programme for the foundation of a ‘New Bangladesh’ after the Liberation War of 1971.