The ruling Awami League has been in power since 2009. Its archrival BNP has often declared dates during intense public protests, notably before the general elections of 2014 and 2018, but has been unable to overthrow the ruling party. They abstained from the 2014 elections but decided to participate in the following one as a result of a leadership strategy.

According to a public statement made by a senior leader of the BNP, which was ostensibly founded to drive out the Awami League, communists, and leftists from politics, it was supposed to rule the country by overthrowing the government after its final divisional rally in Dhaka on December 10 of last year. Khaleda Zia, the party’s imprisoned chairperson, was supposed to become the head of government.

However, the amateurish attempt failed due to the lack of public support needed to unseat the government. Ruling party leaders termed the announcement “seditious” and have been trolling the BNP for its failure, but no one has filed a case.

Nine days after the Dhaka rally, the oldest son of Khaleda Zia and the party’s acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, who has been residing in the UK since 2008, announced an outline of 27 reforms that would bring the nation into line with its goals and the expectations of the general population.

However, the recommendations are not particularly original, and some will undoubtedly lead to conflict and violence among the general populace. Similar to an electoral manifesto, the outline provides a brief explanation of how the party intends to modify the country’s Constitution, courts, administration, and media, among other topics, in order to create a “rainbow nation” if they are elected to power. Some detractors believe it is a Trojan Horse to enter the fort because, once inside, they predict the BNP will take off its gentleman mask and start using force against its opponents, as they have in the past.

At the end of its term, the Awami League government encountered street protests, accusations of corruption, and pressure from abroad when it came to power in 1996—for the first time since Bangabandhu’s murder in 1975, when succeeding governments tried to banish the Awami League and amend the pro-people Constitution.

To prevent any powerful party from opposing its dictatorship, the BNP eventually regained power and engaged in systematic brutality against the Awami League and minority populations, who are thought to have supported Bangabandhu’s policies and his party.

A sequel carried on over the following few years, sponsoring local radical Islamist organizations and armed militants to carry out an Islamic revolution similar to those that took place in Afghanistan and Pakistan while carrying out a brutal military campaign against the opposition called “Operation Clean Heart” and using the terrifying paramilitary force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to implement its vicious plans.

Before announcing the outline, the BNP held many protest marches and rallies in support of its 10-point charter of demands, which is centred on the release of Khaleda Zia and other political prisoners as well as the dismissal of the charges brought against them, the resignation of the government, and the restoration of a neutral election-time government.

Now the BNP has lost its long-time allies and gained the support of over 50 like-minded parties, including leftists, the media, and a segment of civil society. Still, they have not announced a joint declaration since August last year. According to what they claim in rallies and on talk shows, they are poised to prevent the re-election of the incumbent government by forcing it to resign and establishing a neutral administration to oversee the next election. Top BNP officials are also meeting with foreign diplomats, most of whom advocate for a free and fair election while meeting with cabinet members and making public pronouncements. The government maintains that the allegations against it are exaggerated and manipulated.

However, even though the anti-establishment media and civil society leaders at home and abroad have run a more effective campaign than the coalition led by the BNP, the ruling party is not interested in reintroducing the non-party caretaker government system in the Constitution and does not appear to be budging from its planned programs till the end of its tenure.

The combined campaigns by anti-government elements have already tarnished the image of the government and the ruling party. Still, this harm is only evident online and not in the real world, and it only lasts until the next time the government commits an error or does something wrong. For this reason, the government continues to highlight its successes in economic advancement, poverty reduction, women empowerment, and climate change.

It is clear that the BNP and its allies will not prevail this time due to the lack of a visionary plan for resolving the recent pressing difficulties and crises that the nation and the entire world are experiencing. But they won’t stop or make amends, as they claim, and the nation’s political culture of seeking revenge and playing the blame game will continue.

The opposition coalition will also be unable to reunite owing to differences in opinion in the closing days because of a democratic political environment. A seven-party coalition called Ganatantra Mancha (often known as a platform for democrats) includes some of the BNP’s most important partners, even though some of those parties are on the left. The coalition leaders have continued to operate under the umbrella despite the BNP ignoring their points for months after submitting them for consideration on December 7. This is most likely because they lack significant organizational capacity at the grassroots level.

During a meeting on April 13, the BNP abruptly raised the issue of combining its 27-point platform, the Mancha’s 14-point platform, and the 10-point platform in order to strengthen the movement that has slowed down. According to media reports, the BNP has reportedly expressed interest in combining the 14 and the 10 points, which are a list of requests for the government.

The 27-point plan, on the other hand, is a list of ideas that would be put into action if the BNP were to win the election. After Eid-ul-Fitr, the BNP was supposed to intensify the disorderly movement by combining all the demands with the blueprint, but the predicted result is not assured.

A month later, it was discovered that the BNP is not prepared to accept the Mancha’s proposals to make the joint declaration immediately because the party is reportedly uncertain whether the interim administration will be manageable or will go rogue like the army- and civil society-backed caretaker administration that clung to power for two years, instead of three months, and sought to oust both Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP’s Khaleda Zia, even though it was the BNP leadership that was accused of widespread corruption in the 2001–06 tenure.