Prior to the Indian sub-continent campaign, with a view to looting the enriched temples and forts of India, Emir Timur – popularly known as Timur the Lame – declared the expedition as a jihad against the non-believers of India and decided to ransack the Indian temples as, according to him, those were the places where the sins occurred the most. In the same way, Timur successfully utilised Islam throughout his regime to conquer and rule a vast portion of Central Asia.
Though Timur Lang, who declared himself the sword of Islam, is an ideal example of using religion as an apparatus to govern for a very long time unopposed, most of the ruling elites of the countries that belong to the Muslim Ummah had frequently exploited Islam as a political weapon to ensure the longevity of their regime as well as a way to gain immense popularity among the masses. In many cases, the religion-based parties used the sentiments of the youths to attain the goals of their leaders.
In Bangladesh, the circumstances are quite the same. Most of the parties within the ruling alliance led by the Awami League have been differing in religion-based politics since the inception of the 14-party alliance. Apart from them, all the left-leaning parties were seen opposing religion-based politics while the BNP has never vocally opposed the ideology of religion-based political parties.
The alliance led by BNP has always been a safe haven for religion-based political forces. The BNP has never unravelled any clear stand on the question of the existence of religion-based political parties in a country like Bangladesh. Tarique Rahman, the senior vice-president of the party broke the mold on its 36th founding anniversary.
He stood against the existence of religion-based politics quoting his father Ziaur Rahman at an event in East London. Tarique Rahman’s belated realisation about religion-based politics can be seen as a fresh blow, especially after 2013.
Last year can be considered as one of the most crucial years for Bangladesh. The verdicts given against the Jamaat leaders for their involvement in criminal activities during the nine-month-long struggle for liberation enraged both the progressives and radicals of the country.
In February, a large number of people gathered in Shahbagh opposing the tribunal verdict of life imprisonment of Abdul Quader Molla – a central leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami who was also convicted for various crimes against humanity, and compelled the government to amend the law to ensure the death of Abdul Quader Molla.
The amendment of the law was followed by some tribunal verdicts against some other central leaders of the same party. All of them but the 90-year-old Ghulam Azam were initially told to walk the gallows for their crimes against humanity that agitated the biggest fundamentalist group of Bangladesh, who got involved in widespread vandalism all over the country.
But the event that shook the whole nation was the rise of a fundamentalist group who can gather millions of people with a call of solidarity – Hefazat-e-Islam, the custodian of Islam.
The country experienced how an organisation from a remote area can block the capital of the nation for a day. Hefazat-e-Islam assembled hundreds and thousands of people in the capital and demanded blasphemy laws as well as the execution of the bloggers who crowded at Shahbagh, as according to them those bloggers were anti-Islam atheists.
Interestingly, one year later, hardly anyone can remember what happened last year – one of the deadliest years as the country turned into a valley of death. In 2013, someone had to die every other day due to the sporadic violence that caught the nation for a very long time.
Now, after passing more than eight months of the new year, the “balance sheet” of Bangladesh clearly indicates how the religion-based politicians have exploited their religion for their personal gain. The convicted war criminals have used their identity as the leaders of the largest Islamic party of Bangladesh to show the world that the Bangladesh government has actually cracked down on Islam. Also, that they are being tried not because they were involved in heinous crimes during the 1971 war of secession, but because they are religious leaders!
On the other hand, the Hefazat-e-Islam, who were driven out of the capital on May 6 of last year after an abortive attempt to seize the capital demanding the establishment of fundamentalism in Bangladesh, also made a plea to the Muslim world to save the Muslims of Bangladesh.
However, their appeal was eventually accepted by the international media. Many prominent news agencies are still labelling the war crime-convict Jamaat leaders as Islamic leaders, which helped to create immense pressure on the government in favour of the war criminals.
After experiencing frequent bloodshed in 2013 after every single verdict against the war crime-accused Jamaat leaders, the government seems to be gone into hibernation on this issue this year.
On the other hand, many international and non-government organisations that work for Muslims have provided formidable financial assistance to the Hefazat-e-Islam leaders, making them rich overnight. But the most alarming part is that the insurgent group al-Qaeda has also been lured with their appeal and decided to spread their tentacles in Bangladesh. Ayman al-Zawahiri in his speech mentioned that the new wing would rescue Muslims of Bangladesh from injustice and oppression.
After the call of Zawahiri, a rethink on the stand about the existence of religion-based political parties in Bangladesh from the political leaders of both camps had become a necessity. Political leaders should be prudent enough to realise the need of cutting ties with religion-based politics.
And in the case of BNP, the leaders should go through the results of upazila polls and the incidents during their movement. Many BNP activists and even leaders had to die during the protests that ultimately helped the Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat has won in the local government elections from many areas that once belonged to BNP.
While Jamaat frequently offered radical ideology among the youth, BNP was seen engaged in factional infightings and converting themselves into an Islamic outfit.
Youths hailed in an anti-Awami League and pro-Islamic environment used to join BNP’s student front in the 80s, but now they opt for Jamaat as they cannot find any difference between the basic characteristics between the two parties.
If AL is the political rival of BNP, Jamaat is its ideological rival that will turn BNP into a weaker party someday. It is high time for BNP to cut ties with religion-based politics. Tarique Rahman has given the push, other BNP leaders should proceed now.