BNP-Jamaat face off at the start of campaign

 After almost 17 years, the country is heading towards a competitive election. The voting journey began in a peaceful atmosphere on Thursday, January 22. In the absence of the ousted Awami League, the 10-party electoral alliance led by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami has emerged as the main rival force in this election. But from the first day of the campaign, the two main rival parties, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, have started making offensive statements against each other on some specific issues.

It has been just two days since the election campaign began. Analyzing the statements of the top leaders of BNP and Jamaat on Friday and the previous Thursday, there is a clear indication that the attacks on each other will increase in the coming days.

From the first day of the campaign, the two main rival parties, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, have started making offensive statements against each other on certain specific issues.

In the changed political context after the August 5, 2024 mass uprising, it was already expected that the BNP and Jamaat would take a strong, opposing stance around the national elections. Now, the situation is believed to be moving in that direction. What is noteworthy is that in this election, the BNP is bringing up allegations against Jamaat regarding the party's role in the 1971 Liberation War, misleading people by misusing religion, and conspiring to 'election engineering'.

Counterattack

BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman addressed eight public meetings in the past two days, including Bhashantek in the capital Dhaka, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj, Bhairab, Narsingdi and Araihajar in Narayanganj. Jamaat Amir Shafiqur Rahman addressed five public meetings in Mirpur in Dhaka, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur and Rangpur in North Bengal. A comparative analysis of the speeches of the two leaders reveals their opposing positions.

Without mentioning the Jamaat by name, Tarique Rahman criticized its role in the 1971 anti-independence campaign and called the promise of giving 'tickets to heaven' using religion as 'shirk' and 'kufr'. He claimed that the opposition party was doing dishonest things by talking about the rule of honest people and was cheating people by using religious sentiments. He repeatedly warned about the conspiracy to steal postal ballots and collect NID and mobile phone numbers during the elections.

Without mentioning Jamaat by name, Tarique Rahman criticized their anti-independence role in 1971 and called the promise of giving 'tickets to heaven' using religion as 'shirk' and 'kufr'.

This war of words reached a new level on Friday. At an election rally in Khulna, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar called the election a 'systematic jihad of the established religion'. He said, 'Earlier, war was fought with swords, bows and arrows and cannons. Now war is being fought with ballots.' Strongly criticizing Tarique Rahman's statement, Golam Parwar said, 'No Muslim can call another Muslim an infidel...he has committed this great crime.' He added, 'He has now become a grand mufti...he has come from abroad and is giving fatwas, who is a Muslim and who is an infidel.