'Shows people's desire to keep Jamaat out': Taslima Nasrin says BNP's Bangladesh poll landslide not due to party's 'popularity'

NEW DELHI: Author Taslima Nasrin, who has lived in exile since being forced to leave Bangladesh in 1994 over her novel Lajja, said on Saturday that the sweeping victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the recent elections reflects the public’s determination to prevent Islamist radicals from coming to power rather than a surge in the party’s popularity. However, she warned that the rise of “Pakistan-backed radicals” such as Jamaat-e-Islami as the principal opposition is also a troubling development for the country. “You see huge crowds at Jamaat rallies. But that hasn't translated to votes. The BNP's remarkable results reflect the Bangladeshi people's determination not to allow Pakistan-backed radicals like Jamaat coming to power. Also, the absence of Awami League made BNP the only viable choice for many voters,” Nasrin told PTI.

The BNP secured a decisive mandate in the February 12 general elections, winning 209 of the 298 seats contested. Its allies captured three additional seats, giving the bloc a comfortable majority in the 299-member Jatiya Sangsad, the Bangladeshi parliament. BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman has become Bangladesh’s new prime minister. Rahman returned to the country in December 2025 after spending 17 years in the UK.

He is the son of former President Ziaur Rahman and ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the nation’s first female premier.On the other hand, Jamaat and its allies won 77 seats, forming the main opposition bloc. The Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina—a long-time rival of Khaleda Zia—was banned by the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The Yunus administration took charge after Hasina was removed from power during a student-led movement in August 2024.

Since then, she has been living in New Delhi. Meanwhile, Nasrin also expressed hope that Bangladesh’s political climate and law-and-order situation would improve under Rahman’s leadership. “He has been speaking of taking everyone along and ensuring security to minorities. Hopefully, the targeting of Hindus that was rampant under the interim government of Mohammad Yunus, will now cease,” she said. Relations between New Delhi and Dhaka had deteriorated sharply during Yunus’s tenure. That period saw several attacks on minority Hindus—who make up roughly 8% of Bangladesh’s population of about 170 million—although Dhaka often denied that the incidents were religiously motivated. Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi authorities have been seeking the extradition of Sheikh Hasina on charges of “crimes against humanity” linked to the student protests, for which she was convicted in November last year.