the dominance of the two parties that have controlled Bangladeshi politics for decades, the new administration faces enormous challenges. The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is located in South Asia. India borders it on three sides and Myanmar lies to its southeast. It also has an Indian Ocean coastline. In total, the country is around 150,000 square kilometres or nearly 60,000 square miles. Its population is around 170 million.
This makes it the eighth most populous country in the world. Predominantly Bengali-speaking and Sunni Muslim, there are smaller ethno-linguistic groups as well as Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities. Bangladesh has a long and rich history. stretching back thousands of years. Having been part of the Mughal Empire, which ruled India from the 16th century, Bengal, as the region was once known, was conquered by the East India Company in 1757, later becoming a part of British colonial India. However, as Britain prepared to depart in 1947.
The Hindu-dominated areas, which comprised most of the territory, would become part of the new Republic of India. Meanwhile, the two Muslim-dominated parts in the north would become a separate country, Pakistan. This would be divided into two geographically distinct regions, East and West Pakistan, lying over 1500 kilometres or a thousand miles apart from each other. From the start, East Pakistan was the junior partner in the new state. Although it was far more populous, political power was concentrated over in the west.
This alienation was also underpinned by significant cultural, linguistic and economic differences between the two parts, with many in West Pakistan looking down on the Easterners. As discontent grew, a new political force emerged to represent the interests of the East, the Iwami League.
This became increasingly vocal under its leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In 1966, it launched the so-called Six Point Movement. In addition to calling for a highly devolved system of federal government that would see almost all issues except for defence and foreign affairs handled by the eastern and western governments, it also demanded separate currencies for the two parts, financial autonomy for East Pakistan and even the establishment of a separate military force over in the east.
the situation rapidly deteriorated. As Pakistani forces fought to regain control of the East, using ever more brutal methods, an estimated 10 million Bengalis fled across the border into neighbouring India. Faced with an unmanageable influx of refugees, the Indian government eventually decided to intervene in December 1971.
Pakistani forces surrendered and Bangladesh gained its independence. Two years later, Pakistan accepted its statehood and in November 1974, Bangladesh joined the United Nations in what is widely considered the only genuinely successful case of unilateral secession in modern international relations.
Having become a parliamentary democracy, the Awami League, led by Mujibur Rahman, won an overwhelming victory in the first national elections held in 1973. Driven by secular socialism, many hoped that it would be able to put Bangladesh on a new course. However, opposition to his rule soon grew. With a faltering economy and claims of rising authoritarianism, Rahman was assassinated in a military coup in 1975.
Following a second military coup, a few months later, a new regime emerged under another unrelated Rahman, General Zia-Rakman, the army chief of staff. Although he oversaw the return to civilian rule, he nevertheless remained in power, becoming president in 1977. Meanwhile, having set up the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the BNP, he took the country in a more conservative and Islamic direction.
it was the turn of the Awami League to regain control, this time under Sheikh Hasina Wajid, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the league’s earlier leader. This lasted until 2001 when the BMP returned to power yet again under the leadership of Khalid Azeer. This battle between the two parties, the BMP and the Awami League, led by their influential female leaders, would dominate Bangladeshi politics.
However, as the contest between the two factions became increasingly bitter, they fell back on their nationalist credentials. outbidding each other to be seen as the protector of Bangladesh’s fight for independence. All the while, the country continued to become ever more unstable and corrupt. In January 2007, amidst wrangling over new elections and growing political violence, the military once again stepped in, putting in place a caretaker administration.
In December 2008, a new general election was held that saw Sheikha Sinha and the Iwami League. win an overwhelming victory, taking over 250 seats in the country’s 300-seat parliament. But while the administration was praised for improving economic growth and a rise in living standards, seeing the country’s GDP per person overtake both India and Pakistan, deeper problems nevertheless persisted. As well as high levels of income inequality, the country suffered huge levels of youth unemployment. especially amongst its growing numbers of university graduates. On top of this, concerns steadily grew about the erosion of the country’s democracy, as the government was accused of increasing authoritarianism.
This included suppressing the opposition, clamping down on the media and free speech and committing human rights violations. So, what exactly sparked the country’s revolution? In fact, it came from a rather unusual source. Following the Liberation War, Bangladesh introduced a quota system guaranteeing veterans a percentage of government jobs. Eventually, this was extended to their children and then their grandchildren, setting aside 30% of all civil service positions for fighters and their families.
However, as the population grew, the quotas became increasingly despised, especially amongst students who found their career prospects now limited. In 2018, Following widespread protests, the system was abolished. However, after an appeal by veterans, the country’s high court reinstated the system in June 2024. It was this that sparked renewed protests. But as the police cracked down, they resorted to ever more deadly force, killing hundreds of demonstrators.
All this fed into further anger and resentment: And even though the Supreme Court eventually scaled back the quotas again, the situation continued to deteriorate. On 5 August, after 15 years in power, Sheikha Sena stepped down and fled to India. In the aftermath of the revolution, and in a move widely welcomed in Bangladesh and abroad, a new interim government was quickly established under Mohammed Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning economist famed for developing a microcredit system to help the poor. Pulling together support from opposition parties, including the BNP, he announced his intention to begin tackling many of the country’s most pressing problems.
Addressing the nation on 11 September, he announced reforms in six critical areas. The electoral system, police administration, the judiciary, anti-corruption, public administration and the constitution. has already been hailed as a groundbreaking change for the country. Indeed, some have even called it the country’s second independence.
Widely seen to have been held in check under the Awami League’s traditional secularism, reports emerged soon after the revolution that conservative religious factions were attacking minority Hindus. Although the allegations were played down by Yunus, many will fear the consequences of rising Islamist sentiment. Looking further ahead, there will also be questions about whether any new administration can really get to grips with the country’s enormous political and economic problems. Observers have noted that there need to be fundamental reforms across many areas of governance.
Summary: This includes overhauling the electoral system. break the power of the two dominant parties. If the administration fails to deliver on this, there are real fears that the traditional parties will be able to regain their footing, presenting themselves as the only forces capable of protecting the country. Likewise, steps will be needed to tackle the severe economic problems Bangladesh faces.
This includes rising inflation and chronic youth unemployment, the cause that lay at the heart of the recent revolution. Meanwhile, looming on the horizon is a more deeply rooted problem that fundamentally threatens the country’s existence over the coming decades. A quarter of Bangladesh lies less than two meters above sea level. Already prone to frequent severe flooding that affects tens of millions of people, it’s widely recognized that Bangladesh is one of the country’s particularly at risk from climate change.
For all these reasons, while the overthrow of Sheikha Sena has been widely hailed as a massive breakthrough for the country, potentially opening up a new chapter in democracy, Bangladesh nevertheless faces enormous challenges.
