The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has adopted a cautious stance regarding the growing calls to ban the Awami League (AL), the former ruling party ousted in August 2024 following a student-led mass upsurge.
While student-led groups like the National Citizen Party (NCP) and Islamic political parties like Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibit and Islamic organisations such as Hefazat-e-Islam are vocally demanding the AL’s dissolution, the BNP has distanced itself from these demands.
BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moyeen Khan emphasised that decisions about banning political parties fall under the jurisdiction of the Election Commission or the government, not the BNP.
“Whether the Awami League will be banned or not is something for the Election Commission or the government to decide — not the BNP,” he said and questioned the AL’s commitment to democracy, noting that no AL leader has apologised for past misdeeds and actions.
Other BNP leaders have echoed this sentiment.
Standing Committee Member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy said banning any political party is not the solution to problems, as people themselves eliminate any party that goes against their interests.
“No problem is ever solved by banning political parties. Rather, by changing the mentality of society and ensuring the rule of law, people decide who is accepted or prohibited,” he said referring to growing calls for banning the Awami League.
Adding to the ambiguity is the growing criticism from various protest groups that the BNP has not joined their demonstrations — either in front of the Chief Adviser’s residence in Jamuna on Friday or at the Shahbagh blockade on Saturday.
Protesters from the NCP, UP Bangladesh, and Chhatra Shibir have publicly questioned BNP’s absence, with some interpreting it as a lack of commitment to the cause of “cleansing politics” of what they call AL’s authoritarian legacy.