The BNP’s Political Dilemma: Victims Turned Collaborators

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), historically one of the main victims of the Awami League’s authoritarian excesses, now finds itself in a precarious and contradictory position. Once subjected to severe repression—including political arrests, curbs on free expression, and institutional marginalisation—the BNP has in recent years appeared to compromise core principles by engaging in uneasy alliances and tacit collusion with elements of the very regime that victimised it. This shift can be understood through the prism of political survival and the ruthless calculus of power. For the BNP leadership, the primary objective has become access to state power, often at the expense of ideological consistency or loyalty to their grassroots supporters. This realpolitik strategy prioritises short-term gains, but in doing so, it risks alienating the party’s base—especially the rank-and-file activists who endured hardship during Awami League’s crackdowns. Such a betrayal of core supporters signals a dangerous erosion