Reports in the Bangladesh media state that Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the government, indicated recently that parliamentary elections will take place in February next year. August 5 marks one year since the ouster of an elected government led by Sheikh Hasina. Weeks of protests led by students and youth in July last year culminated in the Hasina government’s collapse. She was forced to flee the country on August 5. Ever since, she has been in exile while Bangladesh has been administered by Yunus, with the help of a group of student leaders and former bureaucrats.

What began as an interim arrangement is likely to continue until a new democratically elected government is put in place. While the installation of this non-elected arrangement in a country of 175 million people can rightly or wrongly be attributed to some outside authority, its continuance without much resistance for more than a year needs to be understood. Politics in Bangladesh was dominated for five decades by two major parties — the Awami League (AL) led by Sheikh Hasina, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Khaleda Zia. Both parties have a dominant presence not only in the political arena but also among students, youth, women, farmers and factory workers through various party wings. The question is: How has Yunus’s administration continued to govern without any major challenge from the supporters of........

© Indian Express