From Revolt To Return: How Tarique Rahman Became Bangladesh's Safe Bet

Dhaka: Wearing a crumpled but spotless white cotton shirt, the bespectacled Tarique Rahman, addressing a vast crowd in Dhaka’s upmarket Banani on Monday afternoon, could easily pass for a college lecturer. He is, of course, a dyed-inthe-wool politician — and the front runner in Bangladesh’s long-delayed elections scheduled for Thursday. “I want to build a Bangladesh where no citizen faces discrimination on the basis of religion, race or identity,” thundered Rahman, 60, the son of former dictator-turned-president Ziaur Rahman and former prime minister Khaleda Zia — heir to one of South Asia’s most enduring political dynasties.

“Assurances will be given so that businesspeople, salaried employees and workers alike can function in a safe environment,” Rahman added, squinting into the crowd as an aide handed him a glass of water. Among those listening was Asif Bhuiyan, a 32-year-old civil servant who had been on strike just last week, demanding better wages. “He knows people are fed up with the mobocracy unleashed on the streets after Sheikh Hasina was forced out by a military-backed student revolt,” Bhuiyan said.

“Some of those who extorted bribes from businessmen were his own men — but it’s still good to hear the top man promise things will improve.” Bhuiyan lives in a tworoom flat near Paltan Bazaar. The coming election will mark the final act of an unusual interregnum. Since the upheaval of August 2024 forced Hasina from office, Bangladesh has been run by a caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus, the microfinance pioneer turned politician. Assessments of Yunus’s stewardship vary sharply.

Supporters argue he inherited a weakened state and, at the very least, managed to stem immediate collapse. Critics counter that inflation remains punishingly high, the taka continues to slide, foreign exchange reserves are depleted and youth unemployment has climbed beyond 13.5 per cent, even as overseas labour markets have begun to shut their doors to Bangladeshi workers. Detractors claim the interim government never gained control, allowing political chaos, joblessness and economic decline to push the country into free fall. They also allege Dhaka has become a playground for global powers eyeing strategic assets and business concessions.

“They said Delhi ruled Dhaka during Hasina’s time,” Bhuiyan complained, “but now ports are being handed over for peanuts to American firms, Chinese companies are cornering the best contracts for next to nothing, and Pakistani and Turkish military teams stroll through Gulshan almost daily.” Even with Jamaat-e-Islami a potential spoiler, middle-class voters such as Bhuiyan are backing the BNP, especially in the absence of the Awami League, controversially barred from contesting this election. Rahman’s lineage is inseparable from Bangladesh’s turbulent political history.

His father, Ziaur Rahman, a freedom fighter turned ruler, is revered by supporters as a hero of independence. For decades, the nation’s politics has revolved around a bitter rivalry between the Zia family and the family of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding president — a feud personified by the two Begums, Khaleda Zia and Hasina, Mujib’s daughter. “One thing I’ll demand when he wins,” Bhuiyan said, watching Rahman’s cavalcade roll on to the next rally. “Let Bangladeshi players play in India’s IPL again. Why should they be banned? This is pure dada-giri.”