Awami League was already there, what has ‘come back’ is their arrogance: Asif Nazrul
Amid discussions over a Facebook post by interim government adviser Mahfuj Alam regarding the “return” of the Awami League, another adviser, Professor Asif Nazrul, has also commented on the matter.
In a post published on his Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon, Asif Nazrul wrote, “The Awami League has not come back; they were already there. What has come back is their arrogance, falsehoods, and audacity to mislead people.”
Netizens are finding differences between Mahfuj Alam’s remarks and Asif Nazrul’s post regarding the return of the Awami League, whose activities are currently banned
After the Awami League was ousted from power in the 2024 student mass uprising, an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus was formed. Alongside Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul, his student Mahfuj Alam also served in that government.
More than three months after the interim government stepped down following elections, Mahfuj Alam said in a Facebook post yesterday that the Awami League had “come back” into Bangladeshi politics in the context of attempts to pit the July 2024 mass uprising against the Liberation War, attacks on shrines and Hindus, and the rise of right-wing forces.
Within 24 hours of that post, Asif Nazrul wrote on the same issue. His three-sentence post received around 13,000 reactions within 55 minutes. At the same time, the post had reportedly been shared 358 times.
In his lengthy post yesterday, Mahfuj Alam wrote, “The League is not merely a political party; it is a theology, and faith in that theology has returned. Today I will tell the story of how it returned.”
He then presented a long list describing how the Awami League had returned, according to him. Mahfuj Alam, who played an important role in the July movement, wrote: “The League came back the very day anti-independence forces positioned 2024 against ’71. The League came back the very day people within the interim government began working toward the rise of right-wing forces. The League came back the day the oppressed people of the last 17 years found joy in mob rule instead of the rule of law.”
He also believes that fears among secular individuals about the rise of right-wing politics and the creation of safe spaces for extremists helped facilitate the Awami League’s return.
In his words, “The League came back the day people who believe in secular values became fearful of the state-sponsored rise of right-wing politics in this country. The League came back the day mobsters were turned into heroes. Safe spaces were created for extremists.”
Mahfuj Alam, who served as an adviser in the interim government, also believes that various actions of that government played a role in this process.
He wrote, “The League came back the day people were alienated and disappointed in the name of minimal reforms and a consensus commission instead of dismantling the system. The League came back the day ‘BNP too *turned against the interim government, and the interim government embraced Jamaat in order to counter ‘BNP too*.’”