Bangladesh Crisis: BNP, student leaders differ over election time frame

The acting chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tarique Rahman, and the student leadership which led the protests that ousted the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh earlier this week are at loggerheads over general elections, according to people in the know.

Sources told ET that Rahman is in a hurry to hold elections that may enable him to become the next PM, and is worried that "pro-BNP" and "pro-Jamaat" sentiments may dilute if elections are delayed.

However, the student leadership has a different view. It does not have a political structure and wants time to create a party before contesting the polls.


In a televised message on Wednesday - two days after Hasina resigned and fled from Dhaka to New Delhi - Rahman said an election must be held immediately and power handed over to the elected representatives. He was speaking at a rally in Dhaka.

"Conspiracies are underway to undermine the country's ongoing achievements," he said. "We must ensure safety for people regardless of religion, race and identity to ensure everyone's safety. Stand as a shield and set an example by ensuring the safety of everyone, regardless of their religious identity, wherever it is."

In October 2018, Rahman was sentenced to life by a Bangladeshi court for his alleged role in a plot to assassinate Hasina in 2004. In August 2023, a court sentenced Rahman to nine years in jail and his wife to three years for accumulating wealth beyond their declared incomes.

Differences have also cropped up between the members of the civil society who backed the anti-Hasina movement and Jamaat-e-Islami.