The Discourse of Distraction

How BNP’s tactical chaos could trigger a national referendum. The more the party questions the legitimacy of the interim government, the more fraught the political situation becomes. This is something Bangladesh can ill afford

Omar FarisOmar Faris
Jun 11, 2025 - 13:03
Jun 11, 2025 - 13:36
The Discourse of Distraction
The Discourse of Distraction
In a moment of unprecedented political transition, when Bangladesh is trying to rise from the ashes of state capture and systemic brutality, one would expect all political actors to contribute to rebuilding the republic. 
 
Instead, the BNP, long projected as a victim of fascism, is increasingly looking like its apprentice.
For a party that once carried the burden of the opposition under tyranny, BNP now appears dangerously close to becoming a spoiler in a moment that demands responsibility.
 
Between Denial and Disruption
 
Let’s be clear: this interim government did not emerge from a routine transfer of power. It rose from the blood-soaked streets of 2024, through a people’s uprising unmatched in scale since the war of Independence. Its legitimacy is moral, political, and constitutional -- a fact BNP once acknowledged.
 
And yet, BNP has now begun to shift gears.
 
The party that spent 17 years chanting "restore democracy, give us elections" is now the loudest voice questioning timelines, mocking the government’s legitimacy, and fueling a narrative of instability -- echoed almost verbatim by Delhi’s think-tank circuit, retired Indian diplomats, discredited regional analysts, and the MOFA spokespeople.
 
This isn't a coincidence. It's a strategy of disruption -- one that aims to force a premature election before reforms can lock in structural change. A gamble not just on power, but on memory: that people will forget who stayed silent when democracy bled.
 
Three Clear Moves, One Obvious Goal
 
The BNP-led discourse now revolves around three calculated moves:

1. Undermine the Yunus-led government by calling it "unelected" and "directionless"

2.Falsely frame reform as delay -- as if institutional cleansing can happen on a 90-day clock

3. Pressure the government into a rushed election, hoping for a power-sharing bargain while the system is still vulnerable

And who’s leading this charge? Ironically, the very actors who, for the first time in two decades, are not being picked up at night, not facing remand, not dodging trumped-up charges. They now roam freely, shout freely, and still claim they are being "oppressed."

It’s theatre. Dangerous theatre.

When Dialogue Becomes a Dead End
 
Professor Ali Riaz, in his recent interview, laid it out clearly: the reform process is not arbitrary. It is the result of two months of structured negotiations with 33 political parties, and has already yielded broad consensus on critical areas -- from judicial independence to constitutional amendments like Article 70.
 
But BNP’s objection is loudest where its electoral monopoly feels threatened -- namely, the proposal for a bicameral parliament with proportional representation in the Upper House.
 
BNP wants seat-based dominance to carry over into the second chamber. In doing so, it resists the very concept of checks and balances, fearing it would dilute majoritarian control. Their concern isn’t democratic principle -- it’s arithmetic.
 
Referendum: Not First Choice, But Maybe the Only One Left
 
If elite consensus breaks down -- if BNP continues to weaponize instability rather than engage constructively -- a national referendum on the July Charter may become inevitable.

It wouldn’t be ideal. But it would be legitimate.

A referendum would allow the people -- not a handful of backroom negotiators -- to decide on:

-- The structure of the future parliament

-- Mechanisms for accountability

-- Judicial independence

-- Electoral reforms that prevent the return of dynastic authoritarianism, whether in green or blue

Referendums are risky, yes. They can be polarizing. But what is more dangerous is letting one party hold the entire transition hostage in the name of electoral entitlement.
 
The International Optics Are Already Shifting
While BNP and its media allies are crying foul about “delayed elections,” Professor Yunus is being welcomed across the globe -- from Beijing to Vatican to Tokyo to London. Diplomats see stability, not stagnation. Investors see opportunity, not chaos.
 
Only Delhi seems unsettled, watching the former gatekeeper’s lost influence. Hence, the echo chamber: Indian media plants a narrative, BNP amplifies it, and a cycle of synthetic outrage is born.
 
The referendum -- if it comes -- will break that loop. It will turn public sentiment into policy, silencing elite manipulation with democratic clarity.

Final Word: The Burden of Choice

The way "medias with agendas" are amplifying Khaleda Zia’s supposed behind-the-scenes intervention -- framing a potential Yunus–Tareque meeting as some grand turning point -- misses the larger picture. The real issues that matter to the people are not being addressed. The public is not looking for backroom reconciliation or symbolic gestures; they are waiting for permanent, structural reforms that will shape the institutions they live under.

BNP must decide what role it wants to play in Bangladesh’s rebirth. It can be a credible force for reform, or it can go down as the party that delayed justice, derailed consensus, and denied the people their moment.

The referendum is not the first choice. But if BNP’s tactics of strategic sabotage persist -- undermining reform while riding on the language of “consensus” -- it may become the only democratic safeguard left to prevent a rebranded return to elite-driven politics.

The Danger of Political Collusion

Here lies the deeper danger: if BNP, by virtue of being the largest political party on the ground, chooses to keep the Awami League in the playing field -- not out of principle, but to preserve the bipartisan habits of corruption, where power and opposition simply trade places but protect each other’s rot -- then the public will see through it.

This reform agenda was born not in negotiation rooms, but in the blood and slogans of a people’s uprising. If old parties now conspire to dilute that mandate, a referendum won’t just be a fallback -- it will become a national demand. The people will bypass party lines, bypass political theater, and seek to lock reform into the constitution themselves.

When the people rise once, they do not forget. They do not wait forever.

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Omar Faris
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