In Bangladesh politics, if 2024 belonged to students who toppled the Sheikh Hasina regime, 2025 undisputedly belonged to their shadowy handlers, Jamaat-i-Islami.

Founded in British India of 1941 by Abul A’la Maududi with the goal of establishing an Islamic state, Jamaat was in bed with the Pakistan military in 1971 when it massacred three million and raped 600,000 women before losing in the Liberation War that created Bangladesh. It was banned in the ’70s, rose in the ’80s, achieved some electoral success in the ’90s, before its war criminals were hanged by Sheikh Hasina in the 2000s.

In the 2008 election, it had a vote share of just 4.7 per cent, although it was in a four-party alliance with the BNP, Bangladesh Jatiya Party and Islamic Oikyoa Jote. It is believed that Jamaat’s pan-Bangladesh vote share was around 8-12 per cent in the last 20 years or so.

But Jamaat’s electoral history is deceptive.

In the Hasina years, when it claims to have faced the maximum censorship and crackdowns, it grew remarkably and unnoticed. In 2013, Jamaat had about 6,000 rukn or registered members. In 2024, coming out of a prolonged ban after the fall of Hasina, it had an........

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