Bangladesh today resembles a house divided not by ideology but by inheritance. Its politics is no longer driven by arguments over policy or competing visions of the future; it is consumed instead by the unresolved ambitions of political heirs and the strategic miscalculations of those who still claim to be indispensable. The result is a republic caught between two prodigal sons—each emblematic of a deeper failure of judgment at the very top.

Consider first Tarique Rahman, the acting head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Recently, Time magazine described him with a series of unflattering adjectives—hardly a novelty in international journalism. What was novel was Rahman’s decision to share the article himself on his verified social media pages. In a country where leaders routinely equate criticism with treason, this was a quietly subversive act. It signaled a certain awareness: that global scrutiny cannot be wished away, and that engaging with criticism is not necessarily a sign of weakness. In a political culture allergic to dissent, Rahman’s gesture hinted—only hinted—at a tolerance for free expression long missing from Bangladesh’s democratic practice.

Rahman has spent more than a decade and a half in exile, yet exile did not erase him. He survived court cases, factionalism, state pressure, and the slow erosion that often destroys parties cut off from power. The BNP remains one of the country’s largest political forces, and that endurance alone suggests a form of political instinct. Survival, after all, is a skill in South Asian politics. But survival is not the same as wisdom. And here lies Rahman’s looming test.

The interim regime led by Muhammad Yunus has declared that after the upcoming election, the........

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