Why Yunus govt, Bangladesh Islamists can't kill Awami League
"Awami League runs in our blood. We are people of the boat [Awami League symbol], we will remain people of the boat, die as people of the boat, and give birth to people of the boat," says a woman in a video that has been widely shared on social media after the Awami League was banned by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh. What the video reiterates is known widely in Bangladesh -- the Awami League isn't just a political party but a cult, and people are born into it.advertisementThis becomes all the more clear when one considers the fact that the Awami League was banned thrice earlier, but emerged stronger every time. But how does a party banned by the ruling regime of the time from active politics not just survive but return to rule?The party draws its legacy from the Liberation War of 1971 -- the very foundational ethos of Bangladesh -- and its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, holds a cult status as one of the foremost heroes of Bengali Muslims and Hindus alike.As one of the two main national parties, the other being the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Awami League has a 40 percent vote share. Though it might not be as organised as the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the Awami League is present across Bangladesh with its village and mohalla committees.advertisementIt has strong local leadership in all 64 districts in the eight divisions of Bangladesh. No other party, including the BNP, can boast of such a network. That is the reason why, despite its chief, Sheikh Hasina, being in exile in India, the Awami League or AL has been able to intensify protest rallies since the latest ban on May 10.AWAMI LEAGUE: BANGABANDHU'S INHERITOR OF BANGLA NATIONALISMThere is a cross-polarity at play in Bangladesh in the histories of 1947 and 1971.While Ziaur Rahman, the founder of the BNP, his followers and the Islamists believe that the roots of Bangladesh are in 1947 -- when it was carved out on religious lines -- Mujibur Rahman, his Awami League and the Left parties believe the true Liberation was in 1971 -- when Bangladesh detached itself from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the basis of Bengali nationalism.It was the imposition of Urdu by West Pakistan over Bengali that saw the Bhasha Juddho or language war in 1952, which culminated in the fight for liberation in 1971.Though there is no denying the fact that pro-Pakistan elements have always remained in Bangladesh, and have been branded Razakars, an ultimate cuss word for a Bangladeshi, Bengali nationalism has been the glue that has kept Hindus and Muslims bound together.advertisementThe Awami League has been the inheritor of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman's Bengali nationalism and his secular politics. The recent ban on the Awami League was the result of intense protests and lobbying by Islamists and student leaders. The AL's rivals and radical Islamists have always tried to project it as a pro-Hindu and pro-India party.Bangladesh's freedom struggle from 1948 to 1971 centres around Sheikh Mujibur's life. The story of modern Bangladesh is incomplete without tomes to Mujib, and that is the legacy that the Awami League has come to inherit.That Mujibur Rahman remains the tallest icon of the edifice on which Bangladesh was built was evident when Islamist mobs targeted his statues after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5, 2024, and his Dhanmondi 32 residence earlier this year.The mob used heavy earthmovers and flames to destroy the building in February. However, some people risked their lives and lit candles amid the ruins.Mujibur Rahman enjoys a cult status among millions of Bangladeshis, and the AL stays a cult because of those intrinsic values.advertisementAWAMI LEAGUE HAS SUPPORT OF 40% OF BANGLADESH VOTERSThat is also the reason why the Awami League enjoys an overwhelming support from Bangladeshi Hindus and other minority communities. Historically, they have been voting for the AL, despite its local leaders oppressing and grabbing land from them.There was a sense of alienation as Sheikh Hasina hobnobbed with the ultra-right Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, and opened Saudi-funded mosques, but the insecurity in the last few months must have reset things for the Awami League.Why just the minorities, people in general might not be as averse to the Awami League as they were five months ago, given the spiralling of the economy and a worsening law-and-order situation.However, it will take much longer for the wounds to heal and the hurts to be forgiven. It was Hasina's dictatorial tendencies, crony culture, abysmal corruption among close aides, enforced disappearances and torture of opponents that made the recent AL regime highly unpopular. This wasn't the case earlier.The Awami League has had traditional support from 40% of Bangladeshi voters in the last two decades, even if one ignored the elections since 2014, which, observers allege, involved large-scale rigging.In the 2001 election, in which eventually the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami went on to form the government, the Awami League polled 40 percent of the votes. In the 2008 election, it was 48 percent.advertisementThe question generally is, what happens to the mandate of the sizeable chunk of the voters?AWAMI LEAGURES MARRY INTO AWAMI LEAGUE FAMILIESWhat was said in the video by the woman that the Awami League runs in the blood and in families is a fact that Bangladeshis would attest to.Bangladeshis even recount renowned poet Rafiq Azad as having said that "people are born into the Awami League".Awami Leaguers zealously guard their accommodative and inclusive ways, and generally marry into other Awami League families.Like people arranging matches within a community, the same can be said of the Awami Leaguers, who claim to have a general cultural and mental make-up which is distinct from that of others.That is also the reason that it has a loyal voter base and a ban on its political activities thrice -- by Ayub Khan in 1958, Yahya Khan in 1971 and Ziaur Rahman in 1975 -- couldn't take away its life-giving oxygen.The latest ban on AL by the Yunus-led interim government came after the National Citizen Party -- an outfit formed by the students who led an agitation against reservation, which later turned into an anti-Hasina agitation -- and Islamist outfits blocked the Shahbag intersection.advertisementThe AL was banned on May 10 under anti-terrorism laws, and a gazette notification was brought out to that effect on May 13.This came nine months after Hasina and other top leaders of AL were forced to flee Bangladesh.History also holds an example that the Awami League isn't dependent on Sheikh Hasina, who is referred to as Apa (elder sister) or Netri (leader), for its revival.Hasina went into a self-imposed exile in India after her father Mujib's assassination in 1975. While she was in exile, the public and the local leadership of AL resurrected the party and invited her back to Bangladesh to take over the reins of the party. She returned in 1981.Meanwhile, between 1975 and 1981, the Chhatra League, the AL's students' wing, won elections in all the 29 government colleges and most of the state-run universities of Bangladesh, ousting the dominant Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal's students' outfit.That the Awami League draws power from its roots, and not the top, has been on display since the ban was imposed. Earlier too, it had been holding demonstrations, rallies and blockades.On May 18, videos and posts on social media claimed that AL members organised demonstrations at 39 sites in Dhaka and recaptured party offices that were taken over by the students' outfit. The Detective Branch of police arrested 11 AL members for taking out a procession in the capital's Gulistan area on May 18, according to The Dhaka Tribune.Observers and experts suggest that the political repression and ban by the Yunus government have helped the Awami League clamber out of the depths of its unpopularity. History has shown that the Awami League bounces back every time it has faced outright bans or repressive military regimes. That is only because the Awami League is a cult and the boat people give birth to Awami Leaguers.Must Watch
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