In recent years, Bangladesh has witnessed an unsettling rise in religious extremism, reflecting a shift in the country’s socio-political dynamics. While Bangladesh’s founding ideals in 1971 were rooted in secular nationalism, the country has experienced a resurgence of radical ideologies that increasingly threaten its pluralistic fabric. The political landscape has both directly and indirectly facilitated this phenomenon, as mainstream parties exploit religious sentiment for political gain, and state responses to extremism remain inconsistent and often reactive.
The Historical Roots of Religious Politics
To understand the current manifestation of religious extremism in Bangladesh, one must revisit its political history. The secular vision of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman began to erode following his assassination in 1975. In the subsequent decades, military rulers like Ziaur Rahman and Hussain Muhammad Ershad incrementally Islamized the polity—lifting the ban on religious parties, inserting Islamic references in the constitution, and institutionalising religion in education and public life.
This shift laid the foundation for actors such as Jamaat-e-Islami to re-enter the political sphere. A party accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War, Jamaat enjoyed strategic alliances with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). These alliances granted Islamist groups mainstream legitimacy and access to state institutions, especially during BNP-led governments. While Jamaat’s formal power has waned, its ideological legacy has persisted through informal networks, student organisations, and madrasas.
The Rise of Hefazat-e-Islam and New Islamist Movements
In the vacuum left by a weakened Jamaat, newer movements have gained ground. Among them, Hefazat-e-Islam, a Qawmi madrasa-based group, emerged as a powerful socio-religious force. Unlike Jamaat, Hefazat does not operate as a formal political party but exerts tremendous pressure through street power and religious legitimacy. It first rose to national prominence during the 2013 Shahbagh movement, countering secular activists and demanding harsh blasphemy laws, gender segregation, and the removal of secular content from textbooks.
What makes Hefazat particularly potent is its grassroots support among rural clerics and its ability to mobilise tens of thousands in protest. Governments across the political spectrum have courted Hefazat at different times. The Awami League (AL), which champions secularism, paradoxically engaged with Hefazat to neutralise opposition from Islamist quarters, even conceding to some of its demands, such as textbook revisions and recognition of Qawmi degrees. These concessions, however politically expedient, embolden extremist forces and blur the secular-religious divide.
Political Opportunism and Ideological Contradictions
Bangladesh’s two dominant parties, the AL and BNP, have both contributed to the entrenchment of religious extremism—albeit in different ways. The BNP has long aligned itself with Islamist groups, viewing them as electoral allies. This pragmatic alliance has provided a veneer of political legitimacy to groups with radical ideologies. On the other hand, the AL has oscillated between repression and appeasement. Its crackdown on Jamaat leaders through war crimes tribunals has been praised for upholding justice but also criticised for being politically selective.
In contrast, the AL’s tactical rapprochement with Hefazat reveals an ideological inconsistency that undermines its secular credentials. Such ambiguity dilutes public trust and signals to extremist groups that the state is willing to compromise on core principles when politically convenient. As a result, extremism becomes a viable tool for influence rather than a fringe threat to be eradicated.
The State’s Security-Centric Response
The state’s response to religious extremism has largely been security-driven. Following a spate of gruesome killings between 2013 and 2016—targeting secular bloggers, LGBTQ activists, foreigners, and religious minorities—the government launched aggressive counterterrorism operations. Groups like Ansar al-Islam (affiliated with Al-Qaeda) and Neo-JMB (an ISIS-aligned faction) were implicated in these attacks. The 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attack, which killed 22 people, marked a turning point in public perception and state policy.
The government’s counterterrorism apparatus responded with brute force—arrests, encounters, and surveillance. While these actions curtailed the organisational capacity of militant networks, they did little to address the ideological roots of radicalisation. Moreover, the sweeping nature of arrests sometimes blurred the lines between militants, dissidents, and political opponents, raising concerns about human rights violations and the misuse of anti-terror laws.
Social Media, Global Influences, and Youth Radicalisation
Religious extremism in Bangladesh is no longer confined to traditional madrasa networks. Increasingly, radical ideologies are disseminated via social media, encrypted apps, and online forums. Young, educated individuals—often from urban, secular backgrounds—have been implicated in extremist plots, signalling a new wave of ideological recruitment that transcends class and education boundaries.
The global resurgence of Salafist-Wahhabi ideologies, funded by transnational networks, has also seeped into Bangladeshi religious discourse. The proliferation of foreign-funded mosques, scholarships, and clerics contributes to the homogenization of Islam and the marginalisation of Bangladesh’s syncretic religious traditions, such as Sufism and Baul culture.
Threats to Minorities and Civil Liberties
The politicisation of religion and the rise of extremism have had dire consequences for religious minorities—particularly Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and Ahmadiyyas. Attacks on temples, desecration of idols, and forced displacement have been reported during election seasons or in the aftermath of blasphemy rumours. These incidents are not only indicative of growing intolerance but also reflect the instrumental use of communal violence to polarise voters and suppress dissent.
Moreover, the space for secular voices, progressive academics, and liberal journalists has shrunk significantly. Censorship, digital security laws, and extrajudicial actions contribute to a climate of fear that curtails open debate and critical inquiry—ironically creating the very conditions that allow extremism to fester.
The Way Forward: Reclaiming Secularism and Pluralism
Countering religious extremism in Bangladesh requires more than military operations or legal bans. It demands a robust recommitment to the principles of secularism, democratic accountability, and social justice. Educational reform is central—modernising madrasa curricula, promoting critical thinking, and reinvigorating cultural narratives that celebrate religious harmony and Bengali identity.
Civil society organisations, religious scholars, and grassroots leaders must play a greater role in countering extremist narratives. International cooperation on counterterrorism must be balanced with the protection of civil liberties. Above all, political parties must abandon the opportunistic use of religion and uphold constitutional values with consistency.
Bangladesh’s history is rich with traditions of tolerance, intellectual inquiry, and revolutionary pluralism. To surrender these values in the face of extremism would be a betrayal of its founding vision. The challenge is not only to defeat militancy but also to construct a society in which extremism has no soil to grow.
@ Author is Faculty of Political Science, University of Calcutta
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