On a winter afternoon in Aona – a union at Sarishabari in Jamalpur district, about 150 kilometers from Dhaka – Md Mahbub Zaman Jewel strikes from courtyard to courtyard, market to market, together with his fellow activists and campaigners. Holding purple flags with the sickle image, Jewel and his colleagues greet farmers, shopkeepers, and their households and ask for votes.
The encompassing farmland is the setting for a well-known story: shrinking revenue margins, rising fertilizer prices, and middlemen who reap extra profit than the individuals who until the land. Within the background, a slogan performs over the microphone: “Duniyar Majdur Ek Hou!” (Staff of the world, unite!).
Jewel will not be a brand new face in politics in his constituency, however he represents a convention that has lengthy pale from Bangladesh’s electoral middle: the nation’s left. Immediately, he’s a Communist Celebration of Bangladesh (CPB) candidate contesting from Jamalpur-4 for the upcoming nationwide election on February 12. Jewel frames his marketing campaign not as a traditional race for energy however as an ethical intervention in a political system he believes has been captured by wealth and opportunism.
“Capitalism can’t defend the poor,” he mentioned to The Diplomat. “The farmer grows the crop, however the revenue goes to merchants, syndicates, and political elites.”
His story carries the echoes of an older political period. Jewel is the son of a former labor union chief. He grew up watching rallies, listening to speeches, and witnessing grassroots mobilization earlier than cash and muscle energy reshaped electoral politics. After spending greater than a decade as a marine engineer overseas, he returned dwelling with a deliberate resolution to reject enterprise ties, resist company affect, and marketing campaign as what he calls “a political employee, not a political investor.”
His marketing campaign facilities on honest crop pricing, rationing packages for rural communities, job creation, and technical coaching. However his problem is immense.
“In at the moment’s Bangladesh, elections are costly, networks are patronage-driven, and political relevance typically relies upon much less on ideology than on monetary capability.” Jewel mentioned. “One of many greatest challenges is making certain voters can safely attain polling facilities. If voting facilities stay safe, the election consequence may very well be very totally different.”
Jewel’s marketing campaign is emblematic of a broader experiment unfolding throughout the nation. Within the post-Hasina period, Bangladesh’s fragmented left has joined pressured in a coordinated effort to return to the electoral enviornment by way of the Democratic United Entrance, a coalition of leftist events.
The coalition contains the Communist Celebration of Bangladesh (CPB), Socialist Celebration of Bangladesh (BASAD), Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Bangladesh JaSad), Revolutionary Communist League of Bangladesh, Democratic Revolutionary Celebration, Sonar Bangla Celebration, Oikya Nationwide Awami Celebration, and different left-leaning teams. Based on coalition leaders, they’re fielding candidates in round 150 constituencies of the 300 that make up Bangladesh’s parliament.
Their collective manifesto presents 18 pledges geared toward rebuilding the state’s democratic establishments, strengthening rule of legislation, reforming elections, empowering native governments, decreasing inequality, and defending human, ladies’s, and labor rights. The coalition emphasizes financial restructuring, public well being and schooling reforms, environmental safety, youth empowerment, media freedom, and the promotion of tradition and science. They intention to remodel the parliament right into a people-centered establishment fairly than a hub of wealth, crime, and communal affect, and pledge to uphold the beliefs of the Liberation Conflict and the mass uprisings of 1990 and 2024.
Their objective is to revive a political custom that when formed the nation’s independence motion however now struggles for visibility in panorama dominated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, and different right-wing teams.
But as candidates like Jewel stroll by way of rural villages, a query rises over their efforts: is Bangladesh’s left mounting a significant comeback, or just witnessing its personal decline amid the rising of proper and far-right politics?
At an election rally in Pachhat Bazaar, Khaliajuri, Netrokona, Joly Talukder addresses supporters amid marketing campaign banners, slogans, and a crowd of native voters. Photograph by particular association.
Campaigning on the Margins: Preventing Cash, Geography, and Political Muscle
Within the huge wetland area of Netrokona, referred to as the Haor, CPB Presidium member and candidate Joly Talukder campaigns throughout a panorama formed by water, isolation, and seasonal vulnerability. For half the 12 months, livelihoods rely upon fishing and agriculture; for the opposite half, joblessness, flooding, and debt dominate day by day life.
“Individuals right here survive on six months of labor and 6 months of uncertainty,” she defined.
Her marketing campaign focuses on flood safety, honest entry to fishing rights, employment ensures, and land safety – points that immediately form the area’s fragile economic system. But organizing within the Haor comes with logistical and political obstacles. Reaching voters requires boats, transport, and sustained presence – all of which demand sources left-wing events hardly ever have.
Talukder argues that corruption and patronage dictate who controls water our bodies, land leases, and authorities reduction packages. “These with energy determine who fishes, who farms, and who receives assist,” she mentioned. “Unusual individuals stay dependent.”
Regardless of native sympathy, she acknowledged that competing with mainstream events is a battle in opposition to an entrenched system. Wealthier candidates flood constituencies with posters, paid marketing campaign staff, autos, and patron-client networks. Administrative bias and casual political affect additional skew the enjoying area.
Throughout Bangladesh, left-wing candidates face related constraints. Many wrestle to pay election deposits, lease marketing campaign workplaces, or print supplies. Whereas main events deploy intensive grassroots equipment, leftist campaigns rely largely on volunteers, getting old networks, and ideological dedication.
“Elections have develop into a enterprise,” mentioned one celebration organizer. “For those who don’t make investments hundreds of thousands, you can’t even be seen.”
Relating to the election deposit, which was elevated this election, Talukder mentioned, “Our celebration couldn’t area many candidates as a result of we couldn’t afford the excessive deposit. The Election Fee’s insurance policies are inconsistent. They declare to cut back money-related hurdles, however in apply, the system favors these with wealth and autos. Unusual individuals can’t compete. This basically ensures that solely the wealthy win.”
The result’s a paradox. The left-wing candidates typically articulate considerations that resonate deeply with working-class and rural voters, but lack the infrastructure to translate that resonance into votes.
The Left’s Lengthy Decline
Issues was once totally different for Bangladesh’s left. Within the Nineteen Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, leftist concepts reminiscent of Marxism, Maoism, and socialism had been central in mobilizing opposition to authoritarian rule in what was then East Pakistan. Events such because the Purbo Banglar Communist Celebration (PBCP) and different revolutionary teams energized staff, peasants, and college students, combating for a classless society and social justice.
A number of sections of the left performed an lively position in the course of the Liberation Conflict 1971 by mobilizing individuals from under, coordinating native resistance, and creating the ideological framework for a individuals’s motion striving for independence. Their deal with labor rights, land reform, and egalitarianism struck a deep chord with peasants and staff.
Left-leaning events and activists had been a formative presence within the political resistance to the ruling Muslim League that emerged in the course of the 1954 United Entrance elections, however their contributions have subsequently been all however forgotten. The United Entrance – which included the Awami Muslim League, alongside with the Krishak Praja Celebration, Ganatantri Dal, and Nizam-e-Islam Celebration – had campaigned for regional autonomy, language rights, and social justice, garnering massive segments of staff, peasantry and progressive intelligentsia. Communists and different radical allies helped arrange a grassroots help base for the coalition: it received management of the provincial meeting in a landslide victory over the Muslim League.
However the victory was short-lived. Inside months, the federal government was dismissed, main figures arrested, and civil liberties had been drastically reined in as Islamabad imposed Governor’s Rule. The Communist Celebration and its fellows had been met with bans and arrests, slicing the bottom out from below them and displaying simply how far Pakistan’s state was keen to go with the intention to crush leftist affect or autonomy actions in East Pakistan.
Furthermore, in the course of the Sixties inside ideological divides rapidly eroded their sway. The Communist Celebration had fragmented into rival pro-Moscow and pro-Beijing factions. One faction supported Bangladesh’s independence and aligned with the Indo-Soviet bloc, whereas a second rejected the liberation framework as solely partial and demanded a extra radical revolution. Maoist-influenced factions like Siraj Sikder’s East Bengal Staff Motion and the Purbo Bangla Sarbohara Celebration started by combating Pakistan however finally turned on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s authorities for not being revolutionary sufficient.
These clashes added to the political turmoil of the early life of independence. However when Maoist energy waned in China these factions had been immediately bereft of each an exterior ideological help and a supply of assist potential.
After independence, the left briefly stuffed a novel place as one among only a few sources of political opposition, particularly after the religion-based events had been banned in 1972. However factional disputes and friction with the ruling Awami League stored leftist events from consolidating energy.
Mujib exploited these rifts by ending multi-party competitors with the creation of his one-party state, below the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL), which took in components of the left below its tentacles whereas sidelining radical mass actions. On the identical time, restrictions on the media – and the consolidation of newspapers below state management in 1975 – suffocated dissent and confined area for ideological pluralism.
The left was relegated to the margins when Bangladesh moved from socialist beliefs to navy rule and market-based financial reforms after 1975. Underneath Ziaur Rahman and, later, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, leftist events had been suppressed regardless of their position throughout the bigger anti-autocratic actions.
Forty years later, leftist events had been as soon as extra half of a bigger pro-democracy motion in the course of the 1990 mass rebellion in opposition to the navy dictator Ershad. By the late Eighties, pupil unions, labor teams and political events – together with a 5‑celebration leftist alliance in addition to bigger coalitions led by the Awami League and the BNP – got here collectively to demand an finish to autocratic rule. These protests, strikes and mass demonstrations unfold all through the autumn of 1990, typically at nice private price to these concerned, together with college students and staff. Regardless of a state of emergency and brutal repression, the protests cross-cut ideological divides to paralyze the regime’s affect and contributed to the top of Bangladesh’s prolonged navy rule in 1990.
By the Nineteen Nineties, electoral politics had come to be outlined round a polarized Awami League–BNP duopoly, and leftist events had been discovering it tough to maintain their heads above water in a political course of more and more decided by cash and patronage.
“Inspiring Desires” However Not Trusted to Govern
“Over time, the left misplaced floor,” mentioned Altaf Parvez, a political analyst and an unbiased researcher. He argues that the decline displays a mixture of ideological stagnation, organizational weak spot, and state suppression. Left-wing events, he mentioned, didn’t modernize their technique, broaden their social base, or reply successfully to shifting financial realities.
“They remained confined to city mental circles,” he famous, “whereas shedding contact with rural voters and rising social teams.”
On the identical time, electoral politics turned more and more formed by cash, patronage, and centralized management. Mainstream events expanded their networks, whereas leftist organizations struggled with restricted sources, inside divisions, and management crises.
And stays true regardless of the participation of leftist events within the motion Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime. Their position in the course of the July rebellion was important, however that doesn’t appear to have translated to electoral momentum.
“There are examples – even within the U.S., figures like Zohran Mamdani have gained traction with pro-left positions in New York. Sri Lanka noticed a left-leaning rise after a mass rebellion, resulting in authorities formation. However as I mentioned earlier, left-wing events in Bangladesh nonetheless haven’t made the mandatory theoretical and organizational reforms,” Parvez mentioned. “They lack sturdy engagement with grassroots struggles, for my part.”
He pointed to 2 “main crises” dealing with Bangladesh’s left: “One is a theoretical disaster. The opposite is an organizational disaster. Their local-level engagement has considerably declined. They usually lack a robust understanding of the social adjustments taking place in Bangladesh.”
Dr. Sabbir Ahmed, a professor on the Division of Political Science at College of Dhaka, factors to a different barrier: public notion. For many years, segments of society have considered left-wing politics with suspicion, typically fueled by narratives portraying leftists as anti-religious or disconnected from cultural norms.
“They will encourage desires,” Ahmed mentioned, “however they haven’t constructed the credibility or management wanted to control.”
This credibility hole has deepened as Bangladesh’s economic system has remodeled. Fast urbanization, abroad migration, garment-sector enlargement, and digital connectivity have reshaped voter priorities. But many left-wing events proceed to depend on slogans rooted in older class frameworks, with out absolutely adapting to new labor constructions or youth political tradition.
In the meantime, right-wing and spiritual political actors have efficiently mobilized identification, morality, and social conservatism to broaden their affect – filling a vacuum left by progressive fragmentation.
“I believe maybe they fashioned this coalition to unify themselves given the rise of right-wing forces and not directly counter them. However we’ll solely know after the election,” Ahmed mentioned.
“In my opinion, they received’t shock anybody within the election. Primarily based on previous traits and the votes their candidates have acquired, it will possible not change.”
A CPB-nominated candidate campaigns for votes in Dhaka’s Farmgate space, participating with native residents in the course of the election drive, February 6, 2026. Photograph by particular association.
A Coalition Technique: Can Unity Revive Purple Politics?
The Democratic United Entrance represents an try to beat a long time of fragmentation. Comprising the CPB, BASAD, Bangladesh JaSad, and different left-leaning teams, the coalition positioned itself as a substitute for what it describes as a “millionaire-dominated parliament.”
Based on Bazlur Rashid Firoz, normal secretary of the BASAD and a central chief of the coalition, the financial profile of candidates illustrates a broader democratic disaster. “Within the present election, there are practically 2,000 candidates, of whom 891 are millionaires. Based on information printed by Transparency Worldwide Bangladesh, 27 of them have property exceeding 1 billion taka,” he informed The Diplomat.
“On this actuality, our political dedication is to stop Parliament from changing into a membership of businessmen and the rich. As a result of if the wealthy dominate, the pursuits of staff, the disadvantaged, and marginalized communities might be ignored. Our primary goal is to boost public consciousness and strengthen that consciousness by way of this election.”
Firoz sees the 2024 July Rebellion as carrying on the combat for the unrealized beliefs that received Bangladesh its independence. “In our view, the Liberation Conflict of 1971 was the nation’s best wrestle – for equality, human dignity, and social justice. However these beliefs had been by no means absolutely realized,” he mentioned. “Then got here the 1990 mass rebellion in opposition to navy rule, but democracy was nonetheless not absolutely established. In consequence, in 2024, individuals as soon as once more took to the streets demanding change. These three actions are a part of a steady political wrestle in our nationwide historical past.”
To totally obtain these concept, he mentioned, “We consider that not solely a change in authorities, however a change within the system is critical. Even inside a capitalist framework, pro-people reforms are doable – Sri Lanka’s latest expertise is an instance.”
“…We need to guarantee honest wages, secure working situations, and social safety for staff.”
From his perspective, left-wing participation will not be solely about successful seats but additionally about reshaping political discourse – intensifying conversations round labor rights, wealth inequality, value controls, public healthcare, and state accountability.
Dr. Mushtaq Hossain, a member of the Standing Committee of Bangladesh JaSad, framed the motion extra pragmatically. He acknowledged that overthrowing capitalism is unrealistic however argued for reforming it by way of stronger regulation, progressive taxation, and welfare enlargement.
“The minimal demand is to cut back corruption and criminalization,” he mentioned to The Diplomat. “With out that, democracy can’t operate.”
The coalition additionally opposes the referendum, being voted on the identical day as the overall election. The left-leaning events assume the referendum dangers undermining the ideological foundations of the Liberation Conflict. Leaders warn in opposition to what they describe as a drift away from secularism, social justice, and historic accountability.
Relevance or Revival: The Way forward for Bangladesh’s Left
Regardless of structural disadvantages, left-wing candidates insist their marketing campaign represents greater than an electoral contest. They body their participation as a part of an extended historic wrestle demanding accountability and reform – connecting the beliefs of 1971, the anti-military rebellion of 1990, and the July Rebellion in 2024
On this narrative, their mission appears to protect a political various in a system more and more outlined by polarization, elite dominance, and rising proper and much proper politics. Joly Talukder believes even restricted success can affect political tradition. “Even when we can’t win many seats,” she mentioned, “we are able to change conversations – about corruption, about farmers, about unusual individuals.”
For Jewel, the marketing campaign is about ethical resistance. “If politics belongs solely to the wealthy,” he mentioned, “then democracy turns into meaningless.”
But the street forward stays unsure.
“The dearth of recognition for left-wing events has existed since 1971. They’ve nearly no acceptance in electoral politics,” Ahmed mentioned. “Elections require a mass base, which communist or left-wing organizations largely lack throughout the nation.
“Furthermore, even when they convey their message, the stigma persists: individuals nonetheless see them as anti-religion forces. This notion hasn’t modified a lot. Given the political atmosphere and the legacy of earlier Awami League governments, the secular narrative hasn’t resonated broadly with individuals.”
Ahmed concluded: “Their manifesto emphasizes making a parliament freed from millionaires. I really feel that is extra of a dream. Leftist and communists can encourage desires, however how one can implement them? They don’t have a transparent path.”
