How an Islamist party is gaining ground in Bangladesh, worrying moderates


FILE PHOTO: Shafiqur  Rahman, Ameer (President) Jamaat-e-Islami, poses for a photograph after an interview with Reuters, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 31, 2025. REUTERS/Kazi Salahuddin/File Photo

DHAKA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Long vilified for opposing independence and barred from ‌electoral politics for over a decade, Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party is reinventing itself and attracting new support ahead of parliamentary polls next month, unsettling moderates and minority communities.

Jamaat-e-Islami began its overhaulsoon after a youth-led uprising in the Muslim-majority ‌nation of 175 million people toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinain August 2024. With Hasina’s Awami League banned, Jamaat is betting on its anti-corruption image, welfare outreach, and what analysts describe as a more inclusive public ‌stance to deliver the party's best-ever performance.

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