After toppling Sheikh Hasina, young Bangladeshis turn back to old guard

Dhaka: Dhaka University student Sadman Mujtaba Rafid defied his parents and police to join protests that toppled former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, convinced the rallies were essential to ensure democracy prevailed over dynastic rule.

But ahead of the February 12 parliamentary election - the first since the upheaval - some of Rafid’s optimism has faded.

“We dreamt of a country where all people regardless of gender, race, ​religion would have equal opportunity,” the 25-year-old said. “We expected policy changes and reforms, but it is far away from what we dreamt of.”

Tens of thousands of young Bangladeshis, frustrated by years of ‌repression and a lack of jobs and economic opportunity under Hasina’s rule, poured into the streets in 2024, eager for radical change ⁠and a “New Bangladesh”. But while the elections will deliver a government without ‌Hasina for the first time since 2008, there has been no major reform and no new viable alternative party has emerged, according to many, leaving the battle for government mostly between former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami.

Opinion polls put the established, but tarnished, parties as frontrunners.

Reuters spoke to more than 80 students under 30, mostly in the capital Dhaka. Most expressed excitement about voting in a freer election but were disappointed with the choice of candidates.

‘Old guard vs student-Islamist alliance’

Under 30s, popularly known as Gen-Z, drove the uprising and make up more than a quarter of Bangladesh’s 128 million voters.

“They are politically ​active and will in all likelihood go to vote and affect the electoral outcome,” said political analyst Asif Shahan, who teaches at Dhaka University. Most were expected to back the newly-formed National Citizens Party (NCP), spearheaded by some of the uprising's leaders, but it has struggled for their support.

An alliance with the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami may have further undermined its appeal.

"They have lost the moral high ground,” said Shudrul Amin, a 23-year-old archaeology student at Jahangirnagar University. "Voters who wanted a ‘New Bangladesh’ free from the baggage of the ‌past now feel they are ‌being forced to choose between the old guard and a student-Islamist alliance.”

Shama Debnath, a 24-year-old Hindu, said politics remained “trapped in an ‘either this or that’ framework” with no new vision or choices.

‘Spirit of revolution lost’

The interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has also disappointed many in ⁠Gen-Z after it failed to rein in mob violence targeting journalists and minorities.

“After a year, I feel the spirit of the July revolution is completely lost,” said Hema Chakma, a 23-year-old Buddhist student. “I am not saying the previous situation was good, but I feel the violence has increased a lot and the interim government is not taking any steps."

Interviews with young Bangladeshis also betrayed unhappiness with the economy, the spark for the revolt that led to Hasina’s eventual exile in India.

NCP’s spokesperson ⁠Asif Mahmud, 27, who rose to prominence during the protests and served in Yunus’ government, said the party was constrained by being new and having ⁠mostly younger members. It also lacked resources, grassroots organisation and financial muscle, he added.

Mahmud stressed the alliance with Jamaat was strategic rather than ideological and ‌there would be no move towards sharia law.

“We will work to fulfill expectations of the youth in the present and also in the future as promised," he said.

People eager to vote

Despite their misgivings, most Gen-Z Bangladeshis told Reuters they remained hopeful about the election itself, where 300 seats are being contested.

There will be a simultaneous referendum on reforms to state institutions, including term limits for prime ministers, stronger presidential powers and greater independence for the judiciary and election authorities. Willingness to vote was as high as 97 per cent among those aged 18 to 35, with an almost even split between ‍BNP and Jamaat, according to a recent poll by the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center, a youth-focused leadership platform. “People are going to vote and that is enough,” said 26-year-old student activist Umama Fatema, a key figure in the 2024 uprising, adding that only a democratically elected “stable government” could steer Bangladesh.

For some, that means the BNP.

“Given that the new students’ party has shattered our hopes, I have decided to vote for BNP," said 25-year-old Maisha Maliha, saying she believed the country needed a strong, united political party with enough people on the ground.

Others say the Islamists should have a chance. “We have seen BNP before, so Jamaat seems like a new option,” said 20-year-old Erisha Tabassum.

‘Not ready to give up’

Tasnim Jara, a doctor who returned from Britain to join the NCP but quit because of the Islamist alliance, is now contesting as an independent, determined to help foster what she calls a “genuinely new political culture”.

The 31-year-old spent two frantic days going door-to-door to collect the 5,000 signatures required to validate her nomination.

"The July uprising created hope that people like us, who were never part of ​the old political guard, could finally enter politics and change how it ‌is practised," said Jara.

"I do believe there is hope for a genuine political alternative in Bangladesh. But it will not emerge overnight," she said.

Such efforts still resonate with some young voters.

HM Amirul Karim, a 25-year-old English literature student, said: "I continue to dream that even if not now, the desire for a new political structure will become a reality. I am not ready to give up.”