In the sweltering heat of Dhaka’s political heartland, a figure long shrouded in exile has stepped boldly into the spotlight. Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, submitted his nomination papers on the final deadline for Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections set for February 12, 2026. The move, reported by Al-Jazeera, marks a seismic shift in a nation still reeling from last year’s cataclysmic upheaval that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s two-decade rule.
Rahman, who returned last week after 17 years of self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, filed to contest from two strategically vital constituencies, Dhaka-17 and Bogura Sadar, known as Bogura-6. The latter seat carries profound symbolic weight, once held by his mother Khaleda Zia during her tenure. This dual candidacy underscores Rahman’s ambition not merely to reclaim a foothold but to position himself as the BNP’s prime ministerial contender should the party clinch a majority, a prospect political analysts deem increasingly plausible amid the Awami League’s disarray.
The timing of Rahman’s reentry could not be more propitious. Bangladesh’s political landscape lies in ruins following the July 2024 student-led protests that spiraled into nationwide carnage, claiming some 1,400 lives. Fueled by outrage over rampant unemployment, stifled economic mobility, and allegations of authoritarian overreach, the unrest forced Hasina to resign on August 5 and flee to India, where she remains under sanctuary. In her stead, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed leadership of an interim caretaker government, tasked with steering the country toward constitutional reform and fresh Bangladesh elections.
Rahman’s path back to Bangladesh was cleared by a cascade of judicial exonerations over the past year. Higher courts acquitted him of major charges, including the 2004 grenade attack on Hasina’s convoy and corruption allegations tied to the Zia Orphanage Trust. These legal victories dismantled the barriers erected during Hasina’s tenure, when Rahman fled London in 2008 amid accusations of money laundering and assassination plots. Now 58, he emerges as the de facto helm of the BNP, given his 80-year-old mother’s frail health, ready to harness a groundswell of anti-establishment fervor.
His voter registration formalized on December 27 paves the way for direct electoral engagement, a formality BNP leaders confirmed would enable Rahman’s full immersion in the campaign. Dhaka-17, an urban bastion in the capital, tests his appeal among the city’s youth and middle class, segments pivotal to the BNP’s revival strategy. Bogura-6, in the rural north, taps into traditional party strongholds where Zia family loyalty runs deep. Analysts interpret this bifurcated approach as a masterstroke, urban dynamism paired with rural solidity to forge a national mandate.
The BNP’s resurgence unfolds against a backdrop of profound national reckoning. Hasina’s ouster shattered the Awami League’s aura of invincibility, exposing fissures in a system critics lambasted as a one-party facade masquerading as democracy. The interim Yunus administration, while credited with stabilizing the economy and initiating reforms, faces scrutiny over its election timeline. Early December’s announcement by the Election Commission, pairing parliamentary polls with a constitutional referendum, has galvanized opposition forces, positioning the BNP as frontrunners in pre-election surveys.
Rahman’s narrative resonates deeply in a country yearning for accountability. During his London years, he cultivated a digital presence, railing against Hasina’s regime through virtual rallies and policy manifestos that amassed millions of views. Supporters hail him as a visionary thwarted by political persecution, detractors, remnants of the Awami League faithful, brand him a fugitive whose past clouds his leadership credentials. Yet with legal clouds lifted, Rahman’s charisma, honed through years of diaspora advocacy, positions him as the opposition’s unifying force.
Bangladesh’s economic malaise amplifies the stakes. Youth unemployment hovers near 40 percent, factories shuttered by global slowdowns, and remittances, once a lifeline, faltering under inflationary pressures. The 2024 protests crystallized this despair, transforming student sit-ins into a revolutionary torrent that security forces met with lethal force. Hasina’s flight left a power vacuum Yunus navigated with pragmatic finesse, enlisting technocrats and international mediators to draft electoral safeguards. Yet whispers persist of Awami League sabotage, with Hasina’s loyalists allegedly plotting from exile to derail the polls.
Rahman’s candidacy injects urgency into this tableau. BNP strategists envision a platform blending economic liberalization with social welfare, promising job quotas overhaul, anti-corruption purges, and infrastructure megaprojects. “Tarique Rahman represents renewal,” declared a senior party operative, echoing sentiments in Dhaka Tribune reports. His dual-seat gamble mirrors classic political calculus, diversify risks, maximize visibility, consolidate base. Victory in either, or both, would catapult him toward premiership, potentially reshaping South Asia’s geopolitical chessboard.
India watches warily. Hasina’s refuge in New Delhi strains ties with the BNP, historically wary of Indian influence. Rahman’s past accusations of Delhi-backed interference in Bangladeshi affairs linger, though pragmatism may temper rhetoric. Yunus’s government, meanwhile, balances Western donors’ demands for transparency against domestic calls for swift polls. The February 2026 date, once aspirational, now looms as a deadline fraught with peril, delays could reignite street unrest, while rushed voting risks legitimacy.
Rahman’s physical return, televised arrival at Dhaka’s airport amid cheering throngs, evoked messianic fervor. Supporters waved BNP flags emblazoned with the party’s rice sheaf symbol, chanting for a “Hasina-free future.” Security remained taut, mindful of past violence, but the reception underscored shifting tides. In Bogura, ancestral villagers feted his proxies with feasts, invoking Zia’s legacy of 2001 triumph when BNP routed Hasina’s forces. Dhaka-17 buzzes with urban youth, galvanized by Rahman’s online pledges for digital governance and startup ecosystems.
Yet challenges abound. The Awami League, fragmented but resilient, fields proxy candidates to splinter votes. Independent reformers, buoyed by Yunus’s aura, vie for centrist turf. Constitutional referendum complexities, debating presidential versus parliamentary systems, could overshadow bread-and-butter issues. Rahman must navigate these while burnishing his image beyond familial dynasty tags. His wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman, a physician, emerges as a quiet asset, bridging gender divides in conservative electorates.
International observers, from the UN to the Commonwealth, gear for deployment, insisting on biometric verification to thwart rigging. Rahman’s exile forged unlikely alliances, London think tanks, Washington rights groups, even Gulf investors eyeing Bangladesh’s textiles boom. His platform pledges judicial independence, minority protections, vital for Hindus reeling from 2024 pogroms, and climate resilience against annual floods ravaging the delta.
As nomination deadlines closed Monday, Rahman’s filings, meticulously timed, signaled resolve. Prothom Alo captured the scene, aides tendering stacks of documents to returning officers, crowds swelling outside. This is no peripheral play. With BNP polling leads widening, Rahman embodies a nation’s pivot from autocracy’s grip toward uncertain democracy. February 2026 beckons not just as an election, but existential referendum on Bangladesh’s soul.
The arc from 2008 flight to 2025 return traces resilience amid adversity. Acquittals in the grenade case, implicating Hasina’s intelligence apparatus, and orphanage graft peeled away fabricated charges, per court records. Rahman’s UK years weren’t indolence, he authored treatises on federalism, mobilized expatriates, even mediated intra-party schisms remotely. Now homebound, he confronts a transformed Bangladesh, Yunus’s interim stewardship stabilized currency but exposed governance rot.
Economic blueprints dominate BNP discourse. Rahman advocates public-private partnerships for garment diversification, eyeing electronics and pharma exports. Unemployment quotas, student flashpoint, face wholesale reform, merit-based allocations, vocational hubs in every thana. Anti-corruption vows target Hasina-era oligarchs, promising asset seizures to fund universal stipends. Rural Bogura craves irrigation grids, urban Dhaka, metro expansions unclogging arteries.
Geopolitics intrudes subtly. China’s Belt and Road largesse under Hasina fuels BNP scrutiny, though Rahman tempers nationalism with pragmatic engagement. India-Dhaka ties, frosty post-Hasina, hinge on extradition questions, unlikely, given Delhi’s hospitality. Yunus’s Nobel gravitas woos IMF bailouts, but BNP eyes fiscal sovereignty, slashing debt servicing to plow funds into human capital.
Cultural undercurrents swirl. Rahman’s Sufi-inflected piety appeals in pious belts, contrasting Hasina’s secular tilt. Women’s wings mobilize fiercely, invoking Zia’s empowerment record. Youth cadres, digitally native, flood TikTok with Rahman montages syncing protest anthems. This multimedia blitz eclipses Awami League’s staid machinery, capturing zeitgeist.
February’s polls test institutional mettle. Election Commission’s neutrality, once doubted, hinges on Yunus oversight. Violence prevention mandates army cantonments, tech surveillance. Rahman’s dual bids heighten drama, dual wins mandate premiership, split victories demand coalition wrangling. Either way, BNP trajectory vaults him center stage.
Bangladesh stands at crossroads. Rahman’s gambit, forged in exile’s crucible, heralds potential renaissance or relapse into division. As ballot boxes prepare, his story captivates, prodigal son reclaiming inheritance amid nation’s rebirth. The electorate, scarred yet hopeful, holds the verdict.
