From Revolutionaries to Visionless Events: Leftist Politics in Bangladesh

Several indices on democracy have recognized the present Bangladeshi political system as “semi-authoritarian,” “hybrid,” or solely “partly free.” Regardless of exhibiting promise of re-democratization from the early Nineties to the late 2000s, the nation seems to have returned to its path of “democratic backsliding.”

The controversy in 2013 over the Worldwide Crimes Tribunal—which was instituted to prosecute the individuals concerned in crimes in opposition to humanity, battle crimes, genocide, and different crimes beneath worldwide regulation that occurred throughout the 1971 liberation battle—accelerated democratic backsliding within the nation, accentuated the rift between secular and Islamist events (reflecting the left/proper divide) in Bangladeshi politics, and led to 2 opposing mass actions. On the floor, pro-tribunal, leftist forces gained this battle with the profitable conclusion of the tribunal. Some experts declare that because the Awami League (AL) got here to energy in 2014, it has enacted insurance policies that undermine freedom of expression, minority rights, and girls’s empowerment, contributing to democratic backsliding and an total rightward shift within the nation. On prime of this, others argue that the celebration’s insurance policies have contributed to additional marginalization of the opposition.

Right now, Bangladeshi opposition events are struggling. The middle-right Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP) by no means fairly recovered from its boycott of the 2014 election, and its celebration chair, Begum Khaleda Zia, was imprisoned in 2018 on corruption fees. Zia was granted bail on sure circumstances by way of a authorities govt order in 2020. Though the federal government extended the bail for the fifth time in March 2022, BNP leadership nonetheless complains about repression. The opposite center-right celebration, Jatiya Celebration (JP), struggles to take care of its position as the primary opposition celebration, holding solely 26 out of 350 parliamentary seats. The far-right Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI) misplaced its registration status because of the management’s battle crimes within the 1971 liberation battle. One other far-right celebration, Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), captured third place within the 2018 parliamentary election, however it did not safe a single seat in parliament. Absent any electoral menace from right-leaning events, the present conservative shift in Bangladeshi politics is perplexing, particularly contemplating the AL’s electoral and govt alliance with some leftist events.

This paradox leaves observers questioning why leftist events have did not exert their affect and reverse the nation’s rightward shift and creeping authoritarianism. In immediately’s Bangladesh, these events have been relegated to what one skilled known as a “microscopic situation.”¹ Though not monolithic by way of nature and beliefs, leftist events in Bangladesh share institutional and ideological constraints that curtail their talents to emerge as dominant political actors.

This text analyzes thirty-nine skilled interviews, 4 focus group discussions with college students on the College of Dhaka, and qualitative content material evaluation of the celebration platforms, manifestos, and publications of 4 leftist events to elucidate these events’ failure to assist democratic consolidation in post-1990 Bangladesh.² It begins by tracing the historical past of leftist events to the colonial period, analyzing the position of the nation’s authoritarian previous and the way the events’ habits of performing inside bigger events limits leftist politics. Then, the article identifies ideological and organizational challenges that impede celebration success and grassroots mobilization, together with leftists’ fame of being “elitist” and “atheist,” their lack of ability to interact civil society networks, and intraparty feuds. Lastly, the piece closes with a dialogue on the way forward for leftist events in Bangladesh.

Historical past of Leftist Events in Bangladesh

Leftist events within the Indian subcontinent have a well-documented historical past of collaborating in anti-colonial actions in opposition to the British. Within the post-partition period, Bangladeshi leftists performed an influential position in anti-authoritarian mobilization in opposition to Pakistani dictatorship. Although these events weren’t allowed to function brazenly, some labored by way of the AL. After the celebration spearheaded the liberation battle in 1971, nonetheless, leftist events suffered from inner feuds and confrontation with the ruling AL. Even when leftist events turned the one viable possibility for opposition politics when religion-based politics was banned in 1972,³ these events nonetheless couldn’t agree on find out how to provoke a socialist revolution. The army coup in 1975 eliminated the AL from workplace, however opposition politics have been nonetheless restricted. After fifteen years of army dictatorship, the 2 centrist events together with smaller leftist events mobilized the nation and reinstituted parliamentary democracy in 1991.

Nonetheless, leftist events wrestle in nationwide elections. Nicely-known events like Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD) and the Staff Celebration of Bangladesh (WPB) have some parliamentary illustration, however their constituencies and subsequent vote shares are very small. Focus group discussions (FGD) carried out amongst college students on the College of Dhaka indicated that these events have change into so irrelevant that almost all younger voters can not even identify greater than two leftist events or their leaders. Individuals additionally admitted that they’ve little or no or no clue in regards to the political ideology of those events, save those that often find yourself as a part of the governing coalition. Though on no account consultant of the entire voting inhabitants, remarks by scholar members in FGDs point out that leftist events in Bangladesh undergo from a legitimacy disaster. Finally, this disaster has been a results of authoritarian rule and the left’s failure to popularize their agenda.

Politicking By means of Greater Events: Erosion of Celebration Energy

Most consultants interviewed by the writer argued that Bangladeshi leftist events lack a distinguishable voice in comparison with their average counterparts. Traditionally, leftist events prevented the wrath of authoritarian rulers by politicking by way of extra mainstream events. Dictatorial rule and authorized boundaries necessitated their collaboration with mainstream events to attain widespread targets—comparable to independence from Pakistan and the tip of army dictatorship—however this technique additionally meant leftist events existed beneath the shadow of their mainstream counterparts. Following the tip of army rule in 1991, coalition politics exacerbated this dependency, additional compromising leftists’ skill to push their agenda. A veteran leftist politician defined:

There are some advantages and earnings of coalition politics. In worry of shedding these advantages and earnings, [leftists] someday take a softer method in talking in opposition to oppression and unfairness and in favor of adjusting legal guidelines. I’ll name this an opportunist tendency. Due to this opportunism, generally they don’t come off as lively within the subject, inside and outdoors the parliament, on the road as one expects them to. That is one shortcoming of forming an alliance with larger events.⁴

These explanations show that leftist events in coalition typically change into much less in a position to maintain centrist events accountable and push for different coverage proposals. The main events, too, reap the benefits of this dependency by not taking leftist coverage proposals into consideration.⁵ In its “political program” (রাজনৈতিক প্রস্তাব), JASAD acknowledges that regardless of being a coalition companion of the AL, it’s not handled effectively. Its official program reads,

Leaders-activists-supporters of JASAD aren’t pleased with the variety of seats it acquired for being a part of the 14-party alliance and the grand alliance up to now. All ranges of celebration leaders-activists-supporters consider that the variety of seats supplied to JASAD because of electoral coalition is just not respectable for the celebration. We positively need this case to alter. Nonetheless, actuality is brutal. No matter injustice has been accomplished to the celebration by way of seat distribution has occurred due to celebration’s personal weak spot. Our personal weak spot has compelled us to just accept this compromise over seat distribution.⁶

Reputational Injury: The “Elitist” and “Atheist” Picture

Each FGD respondents and consultants emphasised that leftist politicians within the Indian subcontinent have a fame for being elitist. Marxism turned widespread in nineteenth-century Bengal amongst a small however highly effective part of educated, younger Hindus referred to as Bhadraloks. This enlightened group was answerable for the Bengali renaissance within the nineteenth century however was additionally perceived as snobbish and clueless about the true world. This notion deepened after the 1947 partition when a minuscule variety of Hindu communists selected to remain in East Pakistan as a substitute of migrating to West Bengal, India, resulting from fears of communal violence. Those that stayed behind have been principally academics, limiting leftists’ promotion of communist concepts throughout the “petty-bourgeoisie or lower-middle courses, and to college students” and solidifying their elitist reputation. Authorized restrictions additional prevented these events from working freely in united Pakistan’s army dictatorship, eroding any probability to develop their platform past these courses.

Leftist politicians and intellectuals are nonetheless seen this manner by college students on the College of Dhaka in Bangladesh. When requested about leftist politicians and activists, FGD respondents described them as “snobbish” and “elitist.” A professor of economics on the College of Dhaka discovered the tendency to speak about revolution from the snug city setting as one of many largest causes behind the leftists’ failure to emerge instead political pressure. In his phrases:

They can not sacrifice on a day-in day-out foundation like Sheikh Mujib[ur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh] did. . . . Their tendency is to do good with out difficult the established order as a lot as doable. The mindset is like this: ‘I can’t compromise [with my beliefs], however I can’t sacrifice [for my cause] both. I can’t take dangers.’ Right here by compromise I imply tactical compromise. However there isn’t a such dedication as leaving the go well with [that is, upper-class elite status] behind and discover Bangladesh from one finish to the opposite for six months.⁷

FGD responses point out that this allegedly elitist perspective of the events might need spilled over into scholar fronts of leftist organizations as effectively. This notion of younger leftist activists maybe comes from a deeply ingrained perception that not all individuals are equally able to comprehending their political message, and therefore their efforts ought to give attention to the really ones. Due to this fact, even inside their historic space of operation—public universities—leftists haven’t been in a position to garner a lot assist.

One leftist politician, nonetheless, contradicted this stereotype, claiming that the younger era of his celebration’s activists are nonetheless lively within the countryside the place they mobilize peasants and downtrodden individuals.⁸ Whereas grassroots mobilization won’t be on the degree it reached throughout the Eighties, the custom has not completely died. The politician did admit to a leftist proclivity to ahamika, the Bengali phrase for conceitedness, which causes reputational harm and alienates leftist politicians from the individuals.

Leftists in Bangladesh even have a fame for being atheists. This label makes constructing sturdy grassroots networks and a steady constituency tough, given current anti-atheist stigma within the nation. In Bangladesh, “if you happen to go to the countryside and inform individuals that you’re an atheist, they may take a look at you want they’ve seen a snake. Bengali Muslims are petrified by the time period atheism.”⁹ Authoritarian rulers each earlier than and after Bangladesh’s independence carried out propaganda campaigns in opposition to leftists, branding them as impious nonbelievers. One veteran leftist politician remarked that “this label [atheists] can’t be eliminated. It has all the time been there, nonetheless is, and can all the time be.”¹⁰ The FGD members confirmed his frustration; most of them used phrases comparable to “hedonist,” “immoral,” and “atheist” to explain leftist political events.

Such defamation grew stronger when the Shahbagh motion, which demanded capital punishment of 1971 battle criminals and a ban on spiritual politics, emerged in 2013. Leftist college students on the College of Dhaka acquired criticism from right-wing political events for selling a secularism tantamount to anti-Islamism. The time period “atheists” got here for use to establish anybody sympathetic to the secular motion, though solely a handful of activists concerned have been self-proclaimed atheists. One of these assault on leftist politicians has continued immediately; well-known spiritual preachers label politicians as “atheist” for his or her sympathy towards minority sects. These leaders are known as “murtads” (apostates), “atheists,” and “enemies of Islam” as a result of their model of secularism requires respect for all teams.

Leftist political events notice they need to discover a steadiness between staying true to their ideology and avoiding offending prevailing spiritual sensitivities. As an alternative of offering conceptual readability of secularism and making it Bangladesh-oriented, most leftist politicians have opted for the strategy that the AL has been utilizing since mid-Nineties, showcasing the piety of their leaders to offset anti-religious allegations.

The FGD responses reveal that public shows of piety, like embarking on the holy pilgrimage to Mecca or referring to Islamic paperwork in political speeches, don’t assist the leftists a lot in eradicating the notion that they’re anti-religious. Reasonably, these methods give the impression that leftists are solely attempting to attain political factors. For instance, one respondent commented, “We now have seen these leftist events, comparable to JASAD and BASAD, counting on a leftist vocabulary in protest demonstrations and rallies. Nonetheless, after they take part in actual politics, which means election, they attempt to play the faith card as effectively. We now have seen that leftist politicians, from Hasanul Haq Inu to Rashed Khan Menon presenting spiritual points of their election manifestos, even utilizing spiritual phrases like ‘Allah is essentially the most highly effective’ of their posters.”¹¹ One other respondent additional defined that “their core ideology is likely to be Marxism. However additionally they have the opportunist tendency like all different [political] events. Since Bangladesh is a Muslim majority nation, they attempt to use faith to serve their pursuits.”¹²

Mobilizational Limitations: Lack of Situation and Organizational Linkages

Because the successes of leftist events in Greece, Portugal, and Spain during the last decade recommend, linkages with like-minded teams and civil society organizations assist smaller events garner assist.¹³ Linkages present these events with legitimacy to determine themselves as integral to the celebration system and reinforce celebration messages. Events have the selection to create, penetrate, and collaborate with civil society organizations to make themselves extra “credible within the eyes of the citizens” and foster grassroots mobilization.

Traditionally, commerce unions are the strongest ally of leftist events within the civil society enviornment. Nonetheless, leftist events’ linkages with this very important civil society group have step by step diminished over time because of the authoritarian-era legacy that restricted entry to commerce unions. After partition, East Pakistani jute and textile industries had been dwelling to left-dominated labor unions till Basic Ayub Khan rose to energy within the Sixties. To exert management over the working class and perform an anti-communist marketing campaign, Khan launched factory-level unionism that benefited corrupt union leaders near the regime. In impartial Bangladesh, the politicization of commerce unions continued: the AL administration (1972–1975) nationalized key industries and integrated all labor unions inside one single group.

Army rule additional exacerbated this development in two methods. First, Ziaur Rahman’s regime made it necessary for all registered political events to declare their very own labor fronts.¹⁴ This measure launched fractionalization inside unions, and leftist events misplaced their hegemonic entry to the working class, their core constituency and base for mobilization. Second, the successor Hussain Muhammad Ershad regime intensified the denationalization of the economic system, and the rising personal sector was in opposition to union actions. This additional shrank the room for maneuver for leftist events by way of unionism.

Within the post-authoritarian period, commerce unions began mirroring polarization in Bangladeshi politics. The 2 larger, centrist events, the BNP and AL, took turns working the nation. Whereas in energy, every celebration promoted their very own labor fronts and union leaders as a substitute of letting the working class manage their very own pursuits. By this time, leftist events have been organizationally so weak that their presence in these unions couldn’t match BNP and AL energy. BNP and AL fronts outranked leftist ones, and leftist events misplaced the power to steer on necessary points associated to labor rights and welfare. This weak spot has change into painfully seen in recent times on problems with minimal wage and first rate working circumstances for readymade garment staff in Bangladesh.

It could be unfair to recommend, although, that leftist events don’t pay sufficient consideration to their core constituency. Official paperwork from 4 leftist events present a transparent dedication to the betterment of the situation of the working class, with a selected give attention to minimal wage and office circumstances. Nonetheless, the restriction of commerce union actions makes it tough for these events to understand these targets. One leftist politician mentioned that regardless that commerce unionism has been enormously hampered by stricter legal guidelines of entry and the introduction of “dalals” (middlemen) and the “commerce union mafia,” leftist events are nonetheless attempting to work by way of unions. From his perspective, leftists are additionally not solely centered on mobilizing manufacturing facility staff. Because the khet-mojurs (farm laborers) represent a overwhelming majority of working-class individuals within the countryside, leftist events now forged their internet extra broadly. Nonetheless, he additionally acknowledged that grassroots mobilization stays lower than superb in current day Bangladesh. No leftist chief has been in a position to impress and encourage youthful activists by way of an illustration impact.¹⁵

Leftist events additionally share a number of targets with different members of Bangladeshi secular civil society, targets starting from poverty alleviation to the betterment of human rights. Nonetheless, the events and civil society organizations disagree over find out how to obtain these targets, so there’s hardly any formal or casual cooperation between them. Their relationship can also be strained by political events’ animosity towards civil society organizations for his or her interference in political processes. A seasoned leftist politician remarked that these civil society organizations have tried to “depoliticize” politics by bypassing political events. Such sentiments don’t bode effectively for collaboration between the 2 varieties of actors.¹⁶

In leftist circles, suspicion of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which type the majority of secular civil society in Bangladesh, is strengthened by these NGOs’ dependence on international funding. Leftist events in Bangladesh usually view these teams as puppets of imperial forces. The next excerpt from the political proposal adopted on the eleventh celebration congress of the Communist Celebration of Bangladesh, for instance, explains why NGOs aren’t seen as credible companions in social reform:

Right now, NGOs are working a giant marketing campaign within the nation. Broadly talking, NGOs are working because the “safety internet” for imperialism to offset the social unrest created by poverty, inequality, and unemployment borne by the anti-people insurance policies of the exact same imperialism. . . . Within the identify of poverty alleviation, they’re providing micro-credit within the countryside. The excessive rate of interest of those credit score packages is forcing the debtors to take a mortgage from one NGO to pay again the mortgage from one other NGO. As an alternative of eliminating poverty, rural individuals are getting caught in a vicious cycle of debt. Due to this fact, the variety of poor, careworn, loan-defaulting individuals has elevated within the nation. Nonetheless, the NGOs which can be concerned on this enterprise of micro-credit are making large earnings. NGO-led reform actions would possibly deliver some advantages within the brief time period. Though there isn’t a cause to oppose these “reforms,” it’s our obligation to battle in opposition to this reform-ism. We now have to recollect this in regards to the NGOs. So it’s protected to say that contemplating all the things, NGOs are a adverse and harmful actor.

This sentiment has been echoed by the WPB in its 2018 election manifesto. The celebration pledged to “save the peasants and agriculture from the palms of loans of rural cash lenders and NGOs, by taking sensible and efficient steps.” Paperwork from the leftist celebration Gana Samhati, too, painting NGOs as mortgage sharks preying on poor rural individuals. In its blueprint for motion, the celebration declares its obligation to “save the peasants from the multinational companies promoting fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and in addition from the debt-traps of rural NGOs and mahajans [money lenders].”¹⁷ Some consultants point out sure cultural organizations, comparable to Udichi or Chhayanot, because the true civil society of Bangladesh. They see prospects for collaboration with these teams, particularly in reversing the rightward shift in politics and society. Nonetheless, these consultants additionally acknowledge that deliberate state coverage throughout the dictatorial interval promoted a conservative model of cultural Islam, limiting secular civil society’s skill to constantly and persistently mobilize supporters.¹⁸

Fractionalization

Specialists establish intraparty feuds and a scarcity of inner democracy as two of the largest weaknesses of leftist events. Within the 1971 wrestle for an impartial Bangladesh, there was a break up in leftist assist for the AL. Right now’s leftist politicians remorse the lefts’ lack of ability to unite at this defining second of nationwide politics. In post-independence Bangladesh, debates over the suitable type of social revolution and persona clashes amongst celebration management solely entrenched divisions. The shortage of a coherent imaginative and prescient in regards to the future course of politics turned much more evident with the army’s 1975 intervention into politics. One leftist politician who was lively on the time defined how this period additional eroded the collective policy-shaping energy of the leftists:

With the army intervention in Bangladesh, the leftists virtually turned extra marginalized. They fell into the entice of disagreement over whether or not to interact in a robust anti-dictatorship motion or a considerably tepid one. . . . Just about all leftists in Bangladesh suffered from this hesitation/indecision from put up ’75 period by way of the complete decade of Eighties to 1990. A few of them supported Ershad whereas others supported Zia. Some even defected from the celebration to affix Ershad’s celebration. On the finish of the day, the leftists got here out as essentially the most broken ones.¹⁹

Leftist events carried the legacy of factional politics into post-authoritarian Bangladesh as effectively. Some consultants opined that celebration disagreements are nonetheless largely private clashes masked as ideological rivalries. Additionally they recognized a scarcity of inner democracy, an lack of ability to accommodate different views throughout the celebration, and an absence of strictly enforced celebration self-discipline as explanation why private disputes change into intractable, reinforcing fractures amongst leftist events. Nonetheless, one skilled dissented and claimed that the capitalist media amplifies the division throughout the leftists and presents them as feeble to the voters.²⁰ The vast majority of consultants claimed fractionalization has affected leftist politics in 3 ways: it fragmented their voter base, lowered their organizational power by way of each manpower and cash, and diminished leftist events’ particular person and collective bargaining energy vis-à-vis the centrist events in energy.

What Lies Forward?

Leftists aren’t oblivious to the challenges they need to overcome to reassert their politics. See more from the Communist Party:

Despite so many makes an attempt and successive efforts it was not but doable to institute a construction of left unity. The affect and mass mobilization energy of nearly all of the left events is weak. Moreover, lots of them have many defects, deviations and confusions. One a part of the left is a companion of the “Mohajote”²¹ and subsequently they nonetheless stay part of the federal government. However, some left events are affected by the varied sorts of weaknesses like, left sectarianism, revolutionary phrase mongering, confining oneself to ivory tower theorization fully estranged from mass individuals. . . . Until now there’s additionally no seen influential, progressive, massive, sincere and patriotic political pressure outdoors the left who may unite with the left and type a left-democratic alliance.

But not many consultants interviewed for this challenge have been hopeful a couple of leftist resurgence within the close to future. Lots of them noticed a puritan, ritualistic model of Islam gaining prominence within the nation, making a secular, leftist ideology unpopular and a reversal of assist for right-wing events unlikely.²² One leftist chief expressed frustration over the youthful generations’ unwillingness to take up the mantle of leftist ideology. From his perspective, an infusion of consumerist tradition in Bangladeshi society and the normalization of conservative Islamic practices have led to a scenario that makes leftist ideology unappealing to this era.²³ Just a few consultants predicted the rise of a 3rd pressure and the collapse of the 2 extremes on the political spectrum.²⁴ Nonetheless, when requested in the event that they see any leftist political celebration in present-day Bangladesh which may rework into that third pressure, they may not provide a constructive reply.

Some leftist politicians and civil society members have been hopeful in regards to the creation of a brand new political agenda based mostly on the altering socioeconomic wants of the individuals. They thought that local weather change and environmental degradation within the pure disaster-prone nation is likely to be one subject on which the leftists may mobilize constituents. The safety and promotion of worthwhile pure sources like gasoline and coal might be one other subject the place leftists may rally assist. Nonetheless, even essentially the most optimistic observers made cautious predictions in regards to the left’s skill to steer. One leftist chief’s recommendation to fellow leftists was, “Group! Group! Group!”²⁵ He recognized being lively and visual in politics and collaborating in elections as essentially the most urgent obligations for leftists. Leftist publications analyzed for this challenge additionally reveal this realization among the many events, the place they emphasize ideological solidarity and organizational power to remain related in Bangladesh.²⁶

Nonetheless, nearly all consultants acknowledged that for leftists to do their job, procedural democracy by way of free and truthful elections should be established in Bangladesh—the opposition ought to be allowed to function freely. To cite one left-leaning skilled, “We now have did not create a viable different pressure, one thing that we would like. We would not have the type of pressure that you just want for the minimal degree of democracy, secularism, and egalitarianism. You want social democracy, which is absent right here.”²⁷

Notes

¹ Interview carried out on the skilled’s workplace in Dhaka on February 20, 2020.

² The publications of the Communist Celebration of Bangladesh (CPB), the Employee’s Celebration of Bangladesh (WPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dol (JASAD), and Gana Samhati have been used for this function. These 4 events have been chosen based mostly on their electoral power, widespread recognition, and alliance historical past. The evaluation was accomplished between February 2020 and Could 2022.

³ Interview carried out on the skilled’s residence in Dhaka on February 22, 2020. Article 38, paragraph 2 of the primary Bangladeshi Structure, enacted in 1972, said that “no individual shall have the proper to type or be a member or in any other case participate within the actions of, any communal or different affiliation or union, which within the identify or on the idea of any faith has for its object, or pursues a political function.”

⁴ Interview carried out on the skilled’s workplace in Dhaka on February 21, 2020.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ JASAD’s political proposal, adopted in 2018, p. 6.

⁷ Interview carried out on the professor’s residence on February 19, 2020.

⁸ Interview carried out over telephone on Could 18, 2022.

⁹ Interview with a professor of political science at College of Dhaka on February 20, 2020.

¹⁰ Interview carried out on the skilled’s residence in Dhaka on February 21, 2020.

¹¹ Focus group dialogue carried out on the College of Dhaka on February 19, 2020. The writer didn’t come throughout any posters with that phrase revealed by any leftist political celebration throughout her analysis.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Myrto Tsakatika and Costas Eleftheriou, “The Radical Left’s Flip In direction of Civil Society in Greece: One Technique, Two Paths,” South European Society and Politics 18, no. 1 (2013): 81–99, https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2012.757455.

¹⁴ Md. Abu Taher, “Politicization of Commerce Unions: Points and Challenges in Bangladesh Perspective,” Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 34, no. 4 (1999): 403–420.

¹⁵ Interview carried out over telephone on Could 18, 2022.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Define for Gana Samhati Andolan, p. 6.

¹⁸ See Kazi Shahdat Kabir, “Islam as a Image of Ligitimization: The Islamization Venture of President Basic Ershad in Bangladesh,” Far Jap Financial Evaluate (April 16, 1982); and Muhammad A. Hakim, “The Use of Islam as a Political Legitimization Software: The Bangladesh Expertise, 1972–1990,” Asian Journal of Political Science 6, no. 2 (December 1998): 98–117.

¹⁹ Interview carried out on the skilled’s workplace in Dhaka on February 21, 2020.

²⁰ Interview carried out with the skilled over telephone on Could 18, 2022.

²¹ Mohajote, or “grand alliance,” is the identify of the AL-led coalition that gained the parliamentary election in 2008 and shaped a authorities in 2009.

²² Interview carried out on the skilled’s residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 22, 2020.

²³ Interview carried out on the skilled’s workplace in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 21, 2020.

²⁴ Interviews carried out in several places in Dhaka, Bangladesh in February 2020.

²⁵ Interview carried out on the skilled’s workplace in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 21, 2020.

²⁶ Together with JASAD’s election manifesto from 2018 and CPB’s political proposal adopted on the eleventh celebration congress in 2016.

²⁷ Interview carried out on the skilled’s residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 19, 2020.