Dhaka, Bangladesh \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>On Wednesday evening in Dhaka, Shafiqur Rahman, the emir (chief) of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, unveiled an ambitious election manifesto. A key promise: If his party wins the country\u2019s February 12 election, it would lay the ground for Bangladesh to quadruple its gross domestic product (GDP) to $2 trillion by 2040.<\/p>\n Addressing politicians and diplomats, the 67-year-old Rahman pledged investment in technology-driven agriculture, manufacturing, information technology, education and healthcare, alongside higher foreign investment and increased public spending.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Economists in Dhaka have cast doubt on whether sweeping promises can be financed, describing the manifesto as heavy on slogans but short on detail. But for Jamaat\u2019s leadership, the manifesto is less about fiscal arithmetic than signalling intent, say analysts.<\/p>\n For years, critics have tried to portray Jamaat, Bangladesh\u2019s largest Islamist party, as driven too much by religious doctrine to be able to govern a young, diverse, forward-looking population. The manifesto, by contrast, presents a party long excluded from power as a credible alternative \u2013 and as a force that sees no contradiction between its religious foundations and the modern future that Bangladeshis aspire to.<\/p>\n His audience was telling too.<\/p>\n Until recently, Bangladesh\u2019s business elites and foreign diplomats either kept their distance from Jamaat or engaged with it discreetly. Now, they are doing so openly.<\/p>\n Over the past few months, European, Western, and even Indian diplomats have sought meetings with Rahman, a figure who, until not long ago, was seen by many internationally as almost politically untouchable.<\/p>\n For a leader whose party has been banned twice, including by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\u2019s administration, the coming election is raising a question few would have dared to ask even a year ago: Could Shafiqur Rahman become Bangladesh\u2019s next prime minister?<\/p>\n The shift in how Jamaat and its leader are being viewed is at least partly to do with a political vacuum that has opened up in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n The July 2024 uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina did more than end her long rule. It upended the country\u2019s political order, hollowing out the familiar duopoly that for decades defined Bangladeshi politics \u2013 the rivalry between Hasina\u2019s Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).<\/p>\n With the Awami League effectively barred from the political field and the BNP the only big party left standing, a vacuum emerged. Many initially assumed it would be filled by the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP). Instead, Jamaat \u2013 long pushed to the margins \u2013 moved to occupy the space.<\/p>\n As Bangladesh heads towards a high-stakes election in less than two weeks, Jamaat has now emerged as one of the country\u2019s two most prominent political forces. Some pre-election polls now place it in direct competition with the BNP.<\/p>\n At the centre of that transformation is Rahman, according to Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, Jamaat\u2019s assistant secretary-general and a longtime associate of the party chief.<\/p>\n Zubair, who worked closely with Rahman when he led Jamaat in the country\u2019s Sylhet region, said the resurgence is the result of years of grassroots social work and political survival under repression.<\/p>\n Rahman, a soft-spoken former government doctor, took over as Jamaat\u2019s chief in 2019, at a time when the party was banned under Hasina. In December 2022, he was arrested in the middle of the night on charges of supporting militancy and was released only after 15 months when he secured bail.<\/p>\n In March 2025, months after the student-led protest had overthrown Hasina and an interim government under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus had taken office, Rahman\u2019s name was dropped from the list of accused in the case.<\/p>\n Since then, his carefully calibrated, emotional public appearances have drawn wide attention.<\/p>\n At a massive rally in Dhaka last July, Rahman collapsed twice on stage due to heat-related illness but returned to finish his speech, defying doctors\u2019 advice.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as Allah grants me life, I will fight for the people,\u201d he told the crowd, barely sitting on the stage, supported by the doctors. \u201cIf Jamaat is elected, we will be servants, not owners. No minister will take plots or tax-free cars. There will be no extortion, no corruption. I want to tell the youth clearly \u2013 we are with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters describe Shafiqur Rahman as approachable and morally grounded \u2013 a leader who prefers disaster zones to drawing rooms, and projects calm in a country exhausted by confrontation.<\/p>\n Now in his third term as chief, Rahman commands firm authority inside the party.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a good and pious man. Everyone in the party trusts him,\u201d said Lokman Hossain, a Jamaat supporter in Dhaka. He said that over the past year and a half, the party has reached far more people than before, with Rahman\u2019s appeal beyond Jamaat\u2019s traditional base playing a central role.<\/p>\n Rahman\u2019s challenge, however, is no longer purely electoral \u2013 it is reputational.<\/p>\n As new supporters drift towards Jamaat, he is attempting to reframe how the party is seen: less as an Islamic force defined by doctrine and history, and more as a vehicle for clean governance, discipline and change.<\/p>\n Whether this reinvention is substantive or merely cosmetic will define both Rahman\u2019s leadership and Jamaat\u2019s future, say analysts.<\/p>\n Any attempt to recast Jamaat\u2019s public image, however, runs up against the unresolved legacy of 1971. For decades, the party\u2019s role during Bangladesh\u2019s war of independence \u2013 when it sided with Pakistan \u2013 and the subsequent trials and executions of several senior leaders have shaped perceptions of Jamaat at home and abroad.<\/p>\n Rahman has approached that history with caution. He has avoided detailed admissions but has recently acknowledged what he calls Jamaat\u2019s \u201cpast mistakes\u201d, asking forgiveness if the party caused harm.<\/p>\n The language marks a subtle shift from outright denial, while stopping short of naming specific actions or responsibilities. Supporters say this reflects political realism rather than evasion \u2013 an attempt to move the party beyond its dark chapter. Critics, by contrast, see the ambiguity as deliberate, arguing it softens Jamaat\u2019s image without confronting the substance of its past.<\/p>\n \u201cHe knows what those mistakes were,\u201d said Saleh Uddin Ahmed, a United States-based Bangladeshi academic and political analyst. \u201cBut stating them explicitly would destabilise his leadership inside the party.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmed nonetheless considers Rahman more moderate than Jamaat\u2019s previous leaders, noting his relative willingness to discuss unresolved historical questions and address issues such as women\u2019s rights \u2013 topics the party long avoided. \u201cThis opening up is also happening because of increased public and media scrutiny,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cPeople are asking questions now, and Jamaat has to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamaat\u2019s effort to reach voters beyond its traditional base and reassure foreign audiences, while retaining the loyalty of its conservative supporters, has created a persistent tension \u2013 one that has often resulted in dual messaging.<\/p>\n That balancing act has been evident in public statements by senior leaders. Abdullah Md Taher, one of Rahman\u2019s closest aides, in an interview with Al Jazeera, said Jamaat is a moderate party, adding that it would not impose or strictly adhere to Islamic law.<\/p>\n The party has also, for the first time in its history, nominated a Hindu candidate.<\/p>\n Yet when addressing conservative supporters, the party continues to emphasise its Islamic identity, with some backers encouraging votes for Jamaat as an act of religious merit \u2013 a practice the rival BNP has criticised as the misuse of religious sentiment.<\/p>\n The strategy appears to have helped Jamaat re-enter political conversations that were once closed to it. At the same time, it has sharpened doubts about how far Rahman is willing \u2013 or able \u2013 to go in reinterpreting the party\u2019s past and ideology as he courts a broader electorate.<\/p>\n Those limits are most visible in Jamaat\u2019s stance on women and leadership. They came into sharp focus during his Al Jazeera interview in which Shafiqur Rahman said it was not possible for a woman to hold the party\u2019s top position \u2013 a remark that reignited longstanding criticism of Jamaat\u2019s gender politics, despite its attempts to project a more inclusive image.<\/p>\n \u201cAllah has made everyone with a distinct nature. A man cannot bear a child or breastfeed,\u201d Rahman said. \u201cThere are physical limitations that cannot be denied. When a mother gives birth, how will she carry out these responsibilities? It is not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Critics argue that the stance exposes the limits of Jamaat\u2019s claims of moderation.<\/p>\n Mubashar Hasan, an adjunct researcher at the Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative at Western Sydney University in Australia and author of Narratives of Bangladesh, also questioned Jamaat\u2019s internal culture, noting that even female leaders who publicly endorse such views operate within a male-dominated hierarchy. He was referring to the party\u2019s large number of female supporters and members, including women within its Majlis-e-Shura, the highest decision-making body. \u201cIt reflects a structure where women follow what men say in that party,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The criticism carries particular weight given the movement that helped reopen political space for Jamaat itself. The July 2024 uprising against Hasina, analysts note, saw extensive participation by women, often at the front lines of protest. \u201cWomen were part of that movement as much as men, if not more,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cUndermining them now gives Jamaat a deeply problematic outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n Political historians argue this is not a new contradiction but a longstanding one. Since contesting elections under its own symbol in 1986, Jamaat has never fielded a woman candidate for a general parliamentary seat, relying instead on reserved quotas.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t a temporary position or a tactical lapse,\u201d said political historian and author Mohiuddin Ahmad.\u201cIt reflects the party\u2019s ideological structure, and that structure has not fundamentally changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet among Jamaat supporters \u2013 particularly younger ones \u2013 the issue is often filtered through loyalty to Rahman himself rather than doctrine.<\/p>\n During his recent nationwide campaign, young supporters can frequently be heard calling Shafiqur Rahman \u201cdadu\u201d \u2013 grandfather. White-bearded, soft-spoken and visibly attentive to supporters, Rahman fits the image.<\/p>\n \u201cHe connects with young people through his words,\u201d said Abdullah Al Maruf, a Gen Z law student from Chattogram and a Jamaat supporter. \u201cThere is something about his recent work that feels like the relationship between a grandfather and his grandchildren. Where BNP leaders often belittle young people, Shafiqur speaks to them with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Maruf added that Rahman\u2019s appeal extends beyond Jamaat\u2019s traditional base. \u201cOutside the usual Jamaat circle, he is more popular than previous Jamaat leaders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Zubair, Jamaat\u2019s assistant secretary-general, described the party\u2019s outreach beyond traditional voters \u2013 such as the decision to nominate a Hindu candidate \u2013 not as a tactical move but one rooted in Jamaat\u2019s constitutional framework rather than political expediency.<\/p>\n \u201cOur constitution allows any Bangladeshi, regardless of religion, to be part of the party if they support our political, economic and social policies,\u201d he said. \u201cSupporting our religious doctrine is not a requirement for political participation.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamaat leaders argue the move reflects a broader effort to shift the party\u2019s public image \u2013 from one defined primarily by theology to one centred on governance and accountability. \u201cWe are emphasising corruption-free politics, discipline and public service,\u201d Zubair said. \u201cPeople have seen our leaders stand with them during floods, during COVID, and during the July uprising. That is why support is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n Krishna Nandi, the party\u2019s Hindu candidate from the city of Khulna, agrees. \u201cWhen families fall into poverty, Jamaat-linked welfare networks step in without asking about religion or political loyalty. This culture of service explains why many citizens see Jamaat not as a party of slogans but as a party of discipline, structure and responsibility,\u201d Nandi wrote for Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n The Jamaat\u2019s outreach has also extended well beyond domestic audiences.\u00a0Zubair said the party\u2019s leadership has held meetings with Indian diplomats in Dhaka who paid a courtesy visit to Shafiqur when he was ill. Jamaat figures were invited to India\u2019s 77th Republic Day reception at the Indian High Commission last month \u2013 an unprecedented step.<\/p>\n European and Western diplomats, he added, have also sought engagements with Rahman in recent months. That shift has been mirrored in Washington. In a leaked audio recording reported by The Washington Post, a US diplomat was quoted as saying American officials wanted to \u201cbe friends\u201d with the Jamaat, asking journalists whether members of the party\u2019s influential student wing might be willing to appear in their programmes.<\/p>\n As Jamaat\u2019s international engagement expands \u2013 and as it emerges as a serious electoral force alongside frontrunner BNP \u2013 many general supporters express confidence in Rahman\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a patriot,\u201d said Abul Kalam, a voter in Rahman\u2019s Dhaka constituency. \u201cWhether as prime minister or opposition leader, he will lead us well.\u201d<\/p>\n What lies next for the party is unclear. But analysts say that irrespective of the outcome of the elections, Rahman\u2019s stature within Jamaat \u2013 and beyond, in Bangladesh \u2013 appears resolute.<\/p>\n \u201cShafiqur Rahman is an experienced politician and is frequently in the headlines,\u201d Ahmad, the political historian, said. \u201cHis political thinking is not yet fully clear, but his grip over the party is evident.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dhaka, Bangladesh \u2013\u00a0On Wednesday evening in Dhaka, Shafiqur Rahman, the emir (chief) of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, unveiled an ambitious election manifesto. A key promise: If his party wins the country\u2019s February 12 election, it would lay the ground for Bangladesh to quadruple its gross domestic product (GDP) to $2 trillion by 2040. Addressing politicians and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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