POLITICAL CULTURE IN

BANGLADESH HAS
ALWAYS BEEN

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CONDUCIVE -DEFEND OR

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REFUTE THE STATEMENT.

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North south university

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Namur Rahman

Id:2031534643
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Faculty: KAA3
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Section:27

Instructor: Kabir. Ashraf alam

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Subject: Political science

Date:20-05-2021

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 Politics of Bangladesh takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative
democratic republic. The Constitution of Bangladesh was written in 1972 and has
undergone seventeen amendments. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh is the head of
government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.
Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Political culture is a
distinctive and patterned form of political philosophy that consists of beliefs on how
governmental, political, and economic life should be carried out. It creates a framework for
political change and are unique to nations, states, and other groups. Political culture refers
to what people believe and feel about government, and how they think people should act
towards it. Politics is omnipresen. Rules are made and enforced in all human communities

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within the country. Robert Dahl is of the opinion that “Politics is any persistent pattern in
human relationships that involves, to a significant extent, control, influence, power or

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authority. The political culture of every country where the Government depends on a
public mandate has necessarily got to be reactive to specific public reactions to its existing

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policies at any given time. If one has to be cynical, one can say that in such a set up very
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often political expediency may override political wisdom. This may lead to contradictory
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trends at times. Bangladesh functions under a democratic goverment. Hence contradictory
conduct may occur at times. There are many more instances of contradictpry behaviour of
totalitarian nations. These may not be exposed because there's no one to contradict a
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totalitarian Government from amongst the citizens of that state. Bangladesh doesn't come
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under this category. The current parliamentary system was adopted in 1991. Between 1975
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and 1990 the nation experienced military rule. A caretaker government was first
introduced in 1990 after the resignation of military dictator Lieutenant General HM
Ershad to observe a neutral democratic election, as per demands of the two major political
parties Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Awami League. Following the
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forced resignation of HM Ershad, Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed was nominated as the
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Chief Advisor and observed the 1991 general election. A Caretaker government is headed
by a Chief Adviser who enjoys the same power as the regular prime minister of the country
except defense matters. The Advisors function as Ministers. After 1991 Caretaker
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government has also held the elections of 1996, 2001 to 2008. Although the first caretaker
government was intended to help the transition from authoritarianism to democracy, this
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system was institutionalized in 1996 by the Sixth Parliament due to rising mistrust between
the BNP and Awami League. In 2011 the then ruling party Awami League abolished the
caretaker government system. This has been the biggest cause of dispute among many
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others between the BNP and the Awami League since then.The three major parties in
Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
and Jatiya Party. BNP finds its allies among some Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami
Bangladesh while the Awami League aligns itself traditionally with leftist and secularist
parties such as Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. The Awami League-BNP rivalry has been bitter
and punctuated by protests, violence and murder. Another important player is the Jatiya

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 Party, headed by late Hussain Muhammad Ershad's Brother GM Quader. Student politics
is particularly strong in Bangladesh, a legacy from the liberation movement era. Almost all
parties have highly active student wings, and students have been elected to the Parliament.
But political culture of Bangladesh has always been contradictive.

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia that situates on the southern side of India, and above
the Bay of Bengal, particularly, it is a tiny country, with a population of about 163 million
people. Following a nine -month bloody Liberation War in 1971.Bangladesh was liberated
as an independent country. This however came at a huge cost as three million people were
killed during the Liberation movement against the government of West Pakistan. At the
time liberation war, some political parties thought it would not be for the interest of
Bangladeshi people to secede from Pakistan because they believed India was behind the
calls for separation of Pakistan into two so as to achieve its own political and imperialistic
policy. Consequently, there were more than six political parties disagreed with the
separation movement of Bangladesh from Pakistan. The respective parties were namely
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI or better known as Jamaat) Muslim League, Nejame

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Islami, Pro-China Communist Party renowned. Besides, thousands of scholars and
intellectual people who were not involved in any political party also sincerely opposed the

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Liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. Because they hypothesized liberating Bangladesh
with the assist of India might not be favorable for the future of Bangladeshi people.

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Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI) is an Islam based political organization in Bangladesh.
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Jamaat-e Islami has been trying to execute the code of conduct ordered by the Almighty
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Allah and guided by Prophet Mohammad in order to change Bangladesh into Islamic
welfare and peaceful state, ultimately, obtaining the contentment of Allah and escape in the
life henceforward. In Bangladesh, as in March 2019, the number of members (Rukon, a
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highest-level member) stands at 55, 000 including 17, 000 female members, and its associate
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members and supporters crossed almost 16 million (Jamaat Internal Report, 2020).The
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Jamaat is now facing an acute crisis in leadership. Currently, most of the Executive
Committee, including its Late President (Ameer-e-Jamaat), working committee members,
including the top leaders of BJI, Abdul Quader Mollah, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali
Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Mir Quasem Ali, are being hanged or in prison on charges
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of committing crimes against humanity in 1971.This crackdown against Jamaat, its student
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front, and other affiliated. Organizations are going on unabated for the last six years and a
half. Most up-to-date information showed that over 35,000 cases have so far been instituted
against more than 7,500,000 Jamaat leaders and workers across the country (Odhikar
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Reports, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), though the current internal report by BJI showed that
in 2020, the individual cases instituted against more than three hundred thousand Jamaat
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members where about ten thousand members are in the prison (Jamaat Internal Report,
2020).Moreover, to understand the last decade’s political situation in Bangladesh, the
incident on February 28, 2013 when government killed 170 people who were shot dead on a
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single day when Moulana Delowar Hossain Syeedi’s verdict was announced Human Rights
Watch, 2014. By identifying the current scenario, this study investigates the policies,
motives, and experiences of this organization from the historical arena to the current
situation. Accordingly, this study also evaluates the programmer, contemporary
controversies, and policy challenges of this organization by examining the engagement and
on going political activities of BJI through an ethnographic analysis with regard to its role

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 in the democratic movement in the country. This paper identifies the three thematic aspects
of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami (BJI): historical development of BJI; political culture of
BJI and recent policy challenges of BJI. For examining this, qualitative content analysis has
been utilized to find out the purpose of this research, as Julien (2008) portrays qualitative
content analysis as latent content analysis, which is shortening facts and simplifying
information and data in an understandable way by analyzing textual data, such as
recording of the interview, observations of artificial intelligence (AI), descriptive studies,
open-ended surveys, speeches, and media highlights,like videos, photos, and sketches. In
the assessment, units of groupings or codes throughout all the variables and samples are
converted into “themes” or “categories” (Mayring, 2015 and Islam and Cansu, 2020).
Historical Development and Challenges of Political Culture in Bangladesh. The
independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladeshi politics as it has evolved, and the
country’s politics tend to take regime histories as their point of departure. Historically,
several interlocking themes characterize political culture in the country. Dependence on
totalitarianism in times of catastrophe and promise of political differences through extra-
parliamentary way is consistently conveyed by appeals to contradictions in nationalist

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ideology and the representation of political balk as anti-patriotic. Along with the
extraordinary partisanship that informs the politico-cultural landscape under all regimes,

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patronage politics tends to predominate whether governments are elected or military.
Ironically, both ordinary citizens and opposition parties often find that the only effectual

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mode of political engagement open to them is mobilizing on the streets. The most lasting
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sites of contestation rotate on the question of national uniqueness and the place of religion
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in defining Bengali/Bangladeshi nationalism, and the historically constructed
Bengali/Muslim dichotomy. As we shall see, efforts over narration and reminiscence have
confidentially formed the construction of political oratory and practice. To put it
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differently, the setbacks of statecraft and record script have been profoundly knotted.
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Highly charged ideological debates about nationalism frequently eclipse conversations on

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other critical issues, such as distributive justice. Moreover, constant “culture wars” have
permitted a deepening division of the political scene; the general upshot is a progressive
hollowing out of political philosophy and performs.The challenges that confront politicians
and policymakers, as well as the general public, are mostly due to negative legacies that
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may have roots in the colonial past of Bengal and current Bangladesh (Islam, 2017)
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Democratic Culture and Political Nature since the 1990s. History of Islam in the Land of
Bangladesh Islam entered Bangladesh as a process of amassing sediments with the same
progression as the territory has been shaped in a continuous procedure. Before the
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formation of the Muslim empire in this region for six centuries, it was sermonized by
cohort after cohort. Consequently, people were welcomed to know the Islamic rule and
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culture, and this region was turned into a suitable consign for Islam in the company with
fundamental comprehension. Islam preached in Bangladesh (Bengal Region) in the
following three approache. Recent Controversies in the Political Culture and Policy
Challenges of BJI in Bangladesh BJI’s politics in Bangladesh has been surrounded by
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increasing controversy in recent years. Allegations have been made against some of its
leaders relating to their association with and participation in the war crimes primarily
performed by the Pakistan army during the 1971’s Liberation War. A ‘War Crimes
Tribunal’ was established in 2011 after four decades of independence. Throughout this
period, the Jamaat had joined in every national and local government elections had

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 participated in all national and local government elections. Though the election results
represent a debatable scale by which to measure public acceptance, where a myriad of
variables such as democratic conditions, local agendas and interests, and the law-and order
situation has impacted on them, they generally provide an acceptable appraisal of the
status of the political groups involved. This is also important when the Jama’at, whose
ideology and objectives are religious, has adapted to the electoral democracy in order to
establish its ideology. The AL government detained more than 100,000 people for the
allegation of helping Pakistani armies as they commit war crimes. Political Challenges of
BJI Currently, in Bangladesh, BJI is facing some sort of critical political challenges. The
registration of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI)’s was banned by the High Court Division
(Petition No. 630/2009) of the Supreme Court in August 2013 (Bangladesh Election
Commission, 2018). Subsequently, BJI did not appeal to the Supreme Court’s Appellate
division for the present political and societal circumstances. Considering its rise in the
1980s and 1990s, it was generally expected that the party would continue gaining
acceptance in a society where most of the members are Muslim and well aware of their
religious identity. Some political observers, intellectuals and party activists argue that

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compromising certain religious principles for the sake of political gain has created a
‘power-hungry’ image of the Jama’at in people’s minds and resulted in ‘a narrow support

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base’ for this movement (Hossain & Siddiquee, 2006). However, last year, Abdur Razzak
resigned from the BJI by showing the cause that “the party’s failure to apologise for its role

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in supporting Pakistani military 50 years ago” even he said that the resignation was also
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due to the BJI’s failure to rethink its view of the Islamic state and restructure itself to
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become “a democratic principled party adhering to Islamic values operating within the
secular constitution of Bangladesh” (Bergman, 2019).
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Conclusion

It is well established that “the contemporary salience of political-religious movements

across the world seems to represent a challenge, in some places even to constitute a threat,
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to the project” (Asad, 1992: 3) while Nasr (1994) asserts that “the rise of Islamic revivalism
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has presented a serious challenge to conventional wisdom in the social sciences and as a
result has been the object of considerable debate and inquiry”.Bangladesh Jama’at-e-
Islami, an Islamic revivalist political movement that embraces modern socio-religious
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strategies in order to attain its primary objectives of establishing an Islamic governance

structure at a state level,focuses significantly on providing social welfare assistance (Amin,
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2016).Jama’at involvement in politics is to sustain the Islamic values at the state level, as
reflected in its calls for stronger adherence to the prescribed principles and rules placed in
the constitution. The Bangladesh Jamaate Islami (BJI)strongly follows the constitutional
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and democratic process in the light of the guidelines enacted by its founders. It is true that
the oppression and repression on Bangladesh Jama’at-e-Islami (BJI) are vast; however,
they try to work according to the democratic political culture to establish social justice and
social welfare for the development of Bangladesh based on Islamic values. There are so
many political analysts who think that the current government of Bangladesh has no good
intention to enrich the country to resolute the internal and international problems and its

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 only duty is to finalize policies to attack, oppress and kill opposition political party
members mainly Islamists and Jama’at members, and to set up a one-party autocratic rule
(Jalil & Rahman, 2011). However, it could be argued that the total development and socio-
political maturity process of Jama’at is not enough and successful in leading the political
arena of Bangladesh, but their consistency for legal rights, positive activities and
democratic attitudes make them one of the most popular party in the near future of
Bangladesh. While the study has given a general analysis, it provides a basis for future
research on BJI, and how BJI played a political impression on the political culture and
“political strategy” (Islam, 2019) of Bangladesh, why Islamist might be the best option and
central point to resolve the current political vacuum in Bangladesh and how Islam, as a
“complete code of life”, may help the current political parties of Bangladesh to develop its
unique model that can “ensure the people’s rights, freedom, sovereignty, participation,
equality, and social justice” (Islam, Bingöl, & Nyadera, 2020). As it can be said that “in
every context, to find out cooperations is the best way to arrive at an unparalleled solution”
(Islam, 2020). Additionally, one can argue that the current position of Jamaat-e-Islami in
Bangladesh may decrease their political performance in the electoral field, but it has huge

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impacts in the socio-economic environment of Bangladesh. As BJI is an ideology based
organisation, they may have so many controversies and critics in its political activities,

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however, the socio-economic influences, by its members are vast, which may exist in the
long run on Bangladesh. Since the last five years, the political agenda and activities of BJI

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are very confined to social, organizational, economic and international base. The political
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influence and the agenda related to election is partially secondary. After one decade of
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political instability and chaos in Bangladesh, it remains to be seen how long the Jamaat-e-
Islami can hold their strength in the socio-cultural, economic and political sphere in
Bangladesh.
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