History of Bangladesh National Party
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2009)
President Ziaur Rahman, during his tenure, reoriented the country's foreign policy, and moved away from the pro-Indian position of the Awami League government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He emphasized the need for closer relations with Muslim majority countries, including former sister country Pakistan, and the West, including the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. He introduced a free press. Ties were also strengthened with the Peoples Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia. President Ziaur Rahman visited many nations in the effort of promoting relations with Bangladesh.
The 1991-1996 and 2001-2006 BNP led governments' successes include development in the education sector, infrastructure and telecommunications development, growth of macro-economy, and improvement of law and order situation. However, failure to improve power generation, activities of Islamic militancy, and large-scale corruption by top party leaders have subjected them to frequent criticism.
Party Ideology
See Also: Bangladeshi nationalismThe BNP promotes a very center-right policy combining elements of conservatism, corporatism, nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism and anti-communism. It is more popular among the country's business class, military, and conservatives, and is credited with bringing socio-economic stability in the country. The party believes that Islam is an integral part of the socio-cultural life of Bangladesh, and favors Islamic principles, as well as cultural views together. This is particularly seen through its alliance with the Islamic party of Jamaat.[1]
Since the 2001 General Election, the party's religious points of view has been largely reconsidered in favor of greater inclusion of religious minorities, and although it went with an alliance with Islamic party of Jamaat, a number of leaders representing the minority communities were nominated. Even though BNP is trying hard to show that it is all inclusive, overwhelming evidence points to the fact that BNP has been responsible for ethnic cleansing of religious minorities in Bangladesh. Under the rule of Khaleda Zia, the persecution of minorities has intensified.
The 2007-2008 period
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2009)
The verifiability of all or part of this article is disputed.Please see the discussion on the talk page.This article or section has been tagged since February 2009.
After Khaleda Zia was detained by the transitional government in 2007, some party members chose Hafizuddin Ahmed to lead the party; Zia's supporters did not recognize this. The electoral commission subsequently invited Hafizuddin's faction, rather than Khaleds Zia's, to participate in talks, effectively recognizing the former as the legitimate BNP. Khaleda Zia challenged this in court, but her appeal was rejected on April 10, 2008.[2] However by the end of August, stance of Election Commission changed subsequently and the Election Commission confessed to public that his decision to send Hafizuddin the invitation was a mistake. He also admitted that the Election Commission's behavior to the party has been biased and he begged pardon for that to the nation. The moral warfare triumph of the real BNP against the Hafizuddin, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan led faction took place after a large procession of during party's Joint General Secretary Tarique Rahman's release on September 3, 2008, some factional leaders were chased and heckled by supporters in front of Tarique's Hospital. Since then the factional part has been remaining silent and appearing inactive. Before this, another moral defeat of reformist faction took place after one of the recognized and leading reformist Saifur Rahman denied himself to be a reformist and made his position very clear under the leadership of Khaleda Zia.
The party faced a landslide defeat at the hands of the Bangladesh Awami League in the 2008 Bangladesh general election, in which the 4-party alliance led by BNP won only 32 seats out of 299 constituencies, of which the BNP alone got 29 [3]. Although the BNP's share of electoral votes had steadily increased in the past - it got 30% in 1991, 33% in 1996 and 40% in 2001 - the 2008 election brought a reversal of fortunes with only 33% of votes. Although concrete evidence of such is yet to be presented, there were massive speculations in the Bangladesh media that young first time voters, who comprised 31% of the entire electorate this year, overwhelmingly rejected the BNP because of its association with corrupt businessmen, Islamic fundamentalists, and war criminals.
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2009)
President Ziaur Rahman, during his tenure, reoriented the country's foreign policy, and moved away from the pro-Indian position of the Awami League government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He emphasized the need for closer relations with Muslim majority countries, including former sister country Pakistan, and the West, including the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. He introduced a free press. Ties were also strengthened with the Peoples Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia. President Ziaur Rahman visited many nations in the effort of promoting relations with Bangladesh.
The 1991-1996 and 2001-2006 BNP led governments' successes include development in the education sector, infrastructure and telecommunications development, growth of macro-economy, and improvement of law and order situation. However, failure to improve power generation, activities of Islamic militancy, and large-scale corruption by top party leaders have subjected them to frequent criticism.
Party Ideology
See Also: Bangladeshi nationalismThe BNP promotes a very center-right policy combining elements of conservatism, corporatism, nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism and anti-communism. It is more popular among the country's business class, military, and conservatives, and is credited with bringing socio-economic stability in the country. The party believes that Islam is an integral part of the socio-cultural life of Bangladesh, and favors Islamic principles, as well as cultural views together. This is particularly seen through its alliance with the Islamic party of Jamaat.[1]
Since the 2001 General Election, the party's religious points of view has been largely reconsidered in favor of greater inclusion of religious minorities, and although it went with an alliance with Islamic party of Jamaat, a number of leaders representing the minority communities were nominated. Even though BNP is trying hard to show that it is all inclusive, overwhelming evidence points to the fact that BNP has been responsible for ethnic cleansing of religious minorities in Bangladesh. Under the rule of Khaleda Zia, the persecution of minorities has intensified.
The 2007-2008 period
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2009)
The verifiability of all or part of this article is disputed.Please see the discussion on the talk page.This article or section has been tagged since February 2009.
After Khaleda Zia was detained by the transitional government in 2007, some party members chose Hafizuddin Ahmed to lead the party; Zia's supporters did not recognize this. The electoral commission subsequently invited Hafizuddin's faction, rather than Khaleds Zia's, to participate in talks, effectively recognizing the former as the legitimate BNP. Khaleda Zia challenged this in court, but her appeal was rejected on April 10, 2008.[2] However by the end of August, stance of Election Commission changed subsequently and the Election Commission confessed to public that his decision to send Hafizuddin the invitation was a mistake. He also admitted that the Election Commission's behavior to the party has been biased and he begged pardon for that to the nation. The moral warfare triumph of the real BNP against the Hafizuddin, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan led faction took place after a large procession of during party's Joint General Secretary Tarique Rahman's release on September 3, 2008, some factional leaders were chased and heckled by supporters in front of Tarique's Hospital. Since then the factional part has been remaining silent and appearing inactive. Before this, another moral defeat of reformist faction took place after one of the recognized and leading reformist Saifur Rahman denied himself to be a reformist and made his position very clear under the leadership of Khaleda Zia.
The party faced a landslide defeat at the hands of the Bangladesh Awami League in the 2008 Bangladesh general election, in which the 4-party alliance led by BNP won only 32 seats out of 299 constituencies, of which the BNP alone got 29 [3]. Although the BNP's share of electoral votes had steadily increased in the past - it got 30% in 1991, 33% in 1996 and 40% in 2001 - the 2008 election brought a reversal of fortunes with only 33% of votes. Although concrete evidence of such is yet to be presented, there were massive speculations in the Bangladesh media that young first time voters, who comprised 31% of the entire electorate this year, overwhelmingly rejected the BNP because of its association with corrupt businessmen, Islamic fundamentalists, and war criminals.
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