BNP brought Jamaat into government for the first time in 2001; neither the Awami League nor the Jatiyo Party have done that.
BNP began to falsify and distort history, with Tarique Rahman (alias Tarique Zia) claiming that Ziaur Rahman was the first president and founder of Bangladesh.
Under BNP’s watch, AL leaders were targeted and assassinated in terror attacks.
In Khaleda Zia’s second term, Bangladesh became isolationist in its foreign policy.
The BNP and Jatiyo Party are often criticized for being created by the cantonment. Yet, there was a fair degree of co-existence among the main political parties of Bangladesh. In the second parliament, the BNP and Awami League co-existed together. In the third parliament, the Jatiyo Party and Awami League co-existed together. By the time of the fourth parliament in the late 1980s, the BNP dragged the Awami League away from parliament and both parties began boycotting parliament.
When the BNP gained power in 1991, it initially pursued a set of liberal economic reforms under Saifur Rahman. These reforms deregulated the economy and were praised by the World Bank and IMF. Neighboring India, as well as other countries in the region like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, also emulated these reforms. In foreign policy, the BNP followed the footsteps of the Awami League and Jatiyo Party by sending a small contingent of troops to Haiti. The BNP under Khaleda Zia was lukewarm to the prospect of a proactive Bangladeshi role in global affairs. For example, both the Awami League and Jatiyo Party sent much larger batches of troops abroad.
Under Khaleda Zia, the BNP became much more inward-looking, intransigent and incompetent than under the days of Ziaur Rahman. This decline in the quality of political discourse and decision-making within the BNP needs to be analyzed. Despite economic reforms in 1991, the BNP began shifting more towards the far-right under its chauvinistic leader Khaleda Zia. In a way, Khaleda Zia was like Donald Trump in her political language and rhetoric, and Marine Le Pen in her appearance. Despite being the first elected woman prime minister of Bangladesh, her first term did not see significant human rights reform.
When the Awami League gained power in 1996, it pursued several historic initiatives which have left a lasting legacy. Sheikh Hasina finally got parliament to repeal the indemnity law which shielded the killers of the 1975 coup. Her government led Bangladesh’s accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (CAT), and the Genocide Convention. From a water sharing treaty with India to a peace accord in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; from celebrating the silver jubilee of Bangladeshi independence with world leaders to getting Bangladesh elected to the UN Security Council; the Awami League had a strong record on foreign and domestic policies. It should have ideally been re-elected in 2001. Khaleda Zia employed what we now know as ‘Trumpian’ tactics to come back.
In 2001, the BNP entered into a coalition with the Jamaat. Until then, the Jamaat had been on the fringes of Bangladeshi politics. When she gained power in 2001, Khaleda Zia gave four ministerial berths to the Jamaat. This marked the first time the Jamaat was inducted into the cabinet of a Bangladeshi government. Even Khaleda’s husband did not bring the Jamaat into his government. Neither did Ershad’s Jatiyo Party induct the Jamaat into the cabinet. This clearly differentiates today’s BNP as a far-right leaning party compared to the centre-right balance maintained by Zia and Ershad (notwithstanding their links to the cantonment).
The breakdown of co-existence between the Awami League and BNP intensified during Khaleda Zia’s second term as PM, when the BNP was in alliance with Jamaat. Bangladesh missed many opportunities to play a role in global affairs. Khaleda Zia also harmed the national security of Bangladesh by grounding military assets bought by the Awami League, including the country’s best frigate and fighter aircraft.
Corruption became unbridled during Khaleda Zia’s second term. Black money proliferated across the BNP, especially among the henchmen of Tarique Rahman, or Tarique Zia as he is also widely known.
BNP brazenly pursued the distortion, falsification and revisionism of history. Tarique began to make sensational claims that Zia was the first president of Bangladesh, that Zia was the declarer of independence, and that Zia was the founder of Bangladesh. Even Zia never made such fantastic claims when he was alive. This marked the definitive turn of the BNP towards the far-right of the Bangladeshi political spectrum, in conjunction with its alliance with Jamaat.
What contributed most to the breakdown of AL-BNP co-existence was the assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina on 21 August 2004, as well as a series of assassinations targeting AL leaders. These attacks took place under the BNP’s watch.
Khaleda Zia’s second term also sowed the seeds of an isolationist and often embarrassingly weak foreign policy, including the postponement of a SAARC summit in 2005. This is ironical considering it was Zia’s husband who promoted SAARC.
The Jamaat’s influence within the BNP grew so strong that many BNP activists today are concurrently Jamaat activists. Unlike the Jatiyo Party, which also pursued a constitutional recognition of Islam and balanced that with centre-right policies in promoting the private sector and infrastructure development; the BNP, under Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, is more interested in politicking with Jamaat and other fringe groups. Corruption and immorality have also become entrenched within the BNP. The BNP has attempted to engineer a cosmetic revival with Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as secretary-general, but the party remains a fiefdom of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman.
Despite Khaleda Zia being the first woman leader of the country, the BNP has drifted far more towards the far-right than under her husband. It is set to drift even further towards the far-right under their illiberal son and heir Tarique.