“The 1971 Moment Bangladesh Must Not Squander”, Swarajya, February 24, 2026
“The election results in Bangladesh are sobering in two ways. One, India’s worst fears of a Jamaat-e-Islami victory have not come true. Two, Bangladesh has not totally rejected the Islamist Jamaat. Between these two balancing takeaways lies the decisive electoral win of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The BNP’s return to power after more than two decades presents it with an epic moment in the history of Bangladesh. Epochally and symbolically, it is another 1971 moment for India’s neighbour that India helped take birth. Bangladesh must not squander it, for the consequences could be even more disastrous than the post-1975 coup and the country’s subsequent descent into prolonged military rule.
If BNP and Bangladesh fail to seize this moment and exploit its enormous potential to secure Bangladesh from the dangers of Islamism, there may never be an opportunity for course correction in the future. Bangladesh needs to learn from Pakistan, the country it split from but the very country it has moved dangerously close to in recent times, what losing such pivotal moments means……”
Read full article at swarajyamag.com
