Roving Periscope: After Yunus’ venom, ultra-Islamist JeI, NCP create ruckus in B’desh
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A day after the outgoing Mohammed Yunus, 86, spewed venom against New Delhi by raising the “Seven Sisters” (Northeast India) issue, thus sowing poison seeds for the elected incoming government, Bangladesh’s chief opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies created a ruckus ahead of the Tarique Rahman-led government’s oath ceremony on Tuesday, the media reported.
With this inaugural discontent, Bangladesh is witnessing fresh confrontation as the ultra-Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizens Party (NCP) warned of protests if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs didn’t take the second oath linked to the July 2025 Charter. Later, however, the JeI and the NCP MPs took the oath of office after threatening to boycott the swearing-in ceremony.
The Election Commission of Bangladesh had announced on Monday that the ceremony would include both the oaths of the membership to the Parliament as well as membership to the Constitution Reforms Commission.
The crisis stemmed from two oaths that all elected MPs were supposed to take as the people in Bangladesh voted on February 12 to elect their MPs and also in a referendum on the July 2025 Charter, which sought to turn Parliament into a Constituent Assembly for 180 days, and empowering it to make changes to Bangladesh’s Constitution and democratic institutions and processes.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath of office to Tarique Rahman and his initial cabinet at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (National Parliament Complex)’s South Plaza in the presence of nearly 1,200 attendees, including India’s Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The BNP’s 25 MPs were sworn-in as ministers and 24 others as state ministers.
Rahman’s BNP bagged 209 out of 297 seats, while the JeI secured 68 seats in the 13th Parliamentary elections.
Seeds of discord
Street agitation resembling those against the Sheikh Hasina regime in 2024 could return to Bangladesh over the July 2025 Charter as Islamist JeI and its ally NCP warned of protests against the “fascist” BNP. Clearly, the Islamists are painting the BNP with the same ‘fascist’ brush they did unto the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League in 2024.
While the BNP swept the national election and secured a two-thirds majority amid allegations of rigging, the July 2025 Charter referendum received 62 percent of ‘Yes’ votes. Although the BNP signed the charter, its leadership has repeatedly said it has serious reservations and was not consulted during the drafting process.
The JeI and the NCP had demanded ‘reforms’ before elections while the BNP sought polls first. Yunus ended up holding the election and the referendum on the same day, February 12.
The BNP on Tuesday declared that its MPs won’t be taking the second oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council, which aims to change the Bangladesh Constitution by incorporating changes from the July Charter referendum. Veteran BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed announced the party’s decision in the presence of Tarique Rahman.
The JeI and the NCP protested as the BNP MPs refused to take the second oath.
If the BNP MPs did not take this oath, the JeI candidates won’t take any oath at all, the party’s Naib-e-Ameer or deputy chief, Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher, told Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo on Tuesday morning. The Jamaat believed that a “Parliament without reforms is meaningless,” he added.
However, following deliberations between the 11 minor parties within the Jamaat alliance, the JeI and NCP MPs took both the oath. No BNP MP took the second oath, according to media reports.
Jamaat’s claims
“The dreams people had for Bangladesh have been shattered by election manipulation, irregularities and post-poll violence,” said Jamaat Secretary- General Mia Golam Porwar, the reports said.
“The street movement must continue against the repression of women. The alliance will hold ‘engineer’ Tarique Rahman accountable. We feared none but Allah. We urge people not to lose hope,” said NCP Chief Organiser Nasiruddin Patwary.
