Bangladesh’s exiled opposition leader, Tarique Rahman, has announced his intention to return to his country to contest the upcoming national elections, expressing confidence that his party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), will secure a decisive majority following the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
Highlights:
- “Bangladesh before all” foreign policy
- BNP confident of majority win
- Plan to diversify Bangladesh’s economy
- Allies with student revolution leaders
- Vows anti-corruption and accountability
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Monday, the London-based BNP chairperson said the student-led movement that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government “cannot be fully realised” until a free and credible election is held.
“We are confident we will win,” Rahman told the Financial Times. “We strongly believe that we are in a position to form the government alone. I think the time is very close for my return to Bangladesh.”
The next government, he noted, will inherit a fragile economy — particularly as Bangladesh’s key garment sector faces pressure from US tariffs and strained ties with neighbouring India, where Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge.
Rahman, widely seen as a prime ministerial hopeful, leads the polls ahead of the February vote. Interim leader Muhammad Yunus has barred the Awami League from political activity, describing it as “fascist” — a view Rahman echoed. He added that the BNP was prepared to form alliances with new political forces, including the student groups that played a pivotal role in last year’s uprising.
“They are young, they have a future,” he said, welcoming the prospect of student activists entering mainstream politics.
Outlining his vision for Bangladesh’s economy, Rahman said a future BNP government would seek to diversify beyond garments, transforming the country into a “supply hub” for global e-commerce giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. He also pledged a recalibration of Dhaka’s foreign policy, advocating a “Bangladesh before all” approach to rebalance relations with India.
Rahman, 59, has been in exile since 2008 amid corruption charges he claims were politically motivated. He maintained that the BNP has taken internal disciplinary action against thousands of members involved in wrongdoing since last August and vowed to end the long cycle of political vendettas that has characterised Bangladeshi politics.
However, he was noncommittal about allowing the Awami League to re-enter the political arena, saying, “If they are convicted as criminals, then how can the Awami League contest the election?”
Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year tenure was marred by allegations of corruption and human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Rahman said that if elected, his government would continue efforts by the Yunus administration to recover billions allegedly siphoned abroad during Hasina’s rule.
Addressing concerns over the BNP’s own record, Rahman acknowledged that “any government has some flaws” but defended his party’s establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission. He dismissed a 2008 US diplomatic cable that described him as a “symbol of kleptocratic government,” claiming that “false narratives” in the Bangladeshi media had influenced such perceptions and noting that all cases against him had since been dropped.
Meanwhile, Nahid Islam, leader of the student-based National Citizen Party, expressed concern that the forthcoming election might not be fully fair, citing the BNP’s dominance in the political and media spheres. “The electoral culture in Bangladesh is not really pleasant for us,” he said, as campaign posters featuring Rahman’s image continue to cover the streets of Dhaka.
