Sheikh Hasina's poll boycott warning: A case for inclusive polls in Bangladesh

Caretaker administrator Muhammad Yunus’s reaction to Hasina’s poll boycott threat has been to allege that outside forces intend to disrupt elections

Former premier Sheikh Hasina’s warning that Awami League supporters will boycott the Bangladesh national elections — scheduled for February next year — if the ban on it is not lifted, has an ominous ring to it. The caretaker administration in Dhaka banned the outfit in May, and thereafter, the election commission withdrew its registration. But an election boycotted by the major Opposition will have only limited legitimacy. Hasina is under probe for the actions of her government in July-August 2024 that allegedly led to the killing of close to 1,400 persons. She fled Dhaka to India when a mass uprising soon after toppled the Awami League government. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, investigating her actions, is expected to deliver its verdict between November 10 and 13, which may well be the reason why Hasina chose to present her side of the story to the international media now.

The Yunus administration’s resolve to investigate the Hasina government’s omissions is understandable, but it must differentiate between the leader and her party. (AFP)

Elections in Bangladesh have been violent and contested affairs in the past. The forces that ousted Hasina in 2024 pledged to reform the polity and turn it more inclusive and democratic — but this has not come to pass. Caretaker administrator Muhammad Yunus’s reaction to Hasina’s poll boycott threat has been to allege that outside forces intend to disrupt elections. The Yunus administration’s resolve to investigate the Hasina government’s omissions is understandable, but it must differentiate between the leader and her party. The Awami League represents a secular-nationalist strand in Bangladesh politics, and its origins predate the birth of that nation in 1971. Bangladesh’s secular identity has been under threat since Hasina’s ouster, and the Yunus administration has embarked on a revisionist project of reimaging the country’s history by encouraging the erasure of Sheikh Mujib from the founding of the nation and rehabilitating outfits that collaborated with Pakistan in waging war against Bengali nationalists. New Delhi has said it is in favour of “free, fair, inclusive and participatory elections”. There’s merit in it.