'Covert Politics' Row Heats Up: Tarique Rahman's Accusation, Jamaat's Rebuttal, and Growing Distrust Inside Parties
The 'covert politics' debate has returned to the centre of discussion in Bangladeshi politics. Who is doing politics for which party, where someone's loyalty lies, who is an infiltrator and who a proxy — leaders of different parties are trading accusations over such questions, and the debate has spread from top leaders down to activists.
The debate resurfaced after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's accusation. At a rally in Feni, outside Dhaka, on October 1 he said: “Have you ever seen them on the streets? They were not on the streets. These people and those others — the ones who fled, the autocrats and the covert ones — have come together again.” He added: “They were always together. They were together in 1991, and in 1986 too. During the last election they were together as well, working under the surface. That is why they are called covert.”
The reaction to Tarique Rahman's remarks, aimed at Jamaat, came two days later from Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar. At a gathering in front of Baitul Mokarram in Dhaka he said: “There were huge protests and demonstrations. BNP was supposed to come and did not; Jamaat-Shibir fought and gave their lives. Today you call that Jamaat-Shibir covert. You should be ashamed.”
The debate did not stay confined to top leaders. Most recently, on October 15, state minister and Gono Odhikar Parishad top leader Nurul Haque Nur alleged that Jamaat creates various proxy organizations and uses them in politics. In his words, “These shops opened in July's name, these signboards — eighty percent of them are Jamaat-Shibir's.”
What 'covert' is meant to describe is anonymous politics — someone hides their identity, infiltrates a party of a different ideology and stays active there, then emerges openly for their preferred party at a convenient time. With some such examples discussed recently, the question has arisen whether this labelling tendency is increasing division and distrust among parties.
Serious discussion of covert politics in Bangladesh began mainly in 2024. After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the August 5 student-public uprising, Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders began appearing in public one after another, especially at Dhaka University. Allegations then arose that some of these leaders had earlier been secretly involved in Chhatra League politics. At the time those allegations were raised mainly by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP's student wing.
Chhatra Dal central president Rakibul Islam Rakib said: “They cannot even be recognized. Who is in their politics, what they are doing, cannot be understood either. They do not publish their committees.” He claimed Shibir tried to build dominance on campuses through covert politics — sending some to debating societies and others to journalist associations to capture social and cultural organizations, and that from this covert position they could create any kind of 'mob'. He added: “Those who earlier played controversial roles under the Chhatra League banner, after August 5 we have seen them take shelter under the Islami Chhatra Shibir banner.”
Shibir rejects these allegations. Its central publicity secretary S M Farhad said: “Chhatra Dal seems to have managed thirty to forty committees across the country in three or four years. We form committees every January in our one hundred and thirty-two branches. You will find every committee on Shibir's website. You will find our Dhaka University committee too. But even after that, Chhatra Dal will say 'covert'.” On committees, he said they are formed everywhere; at Dhaka University, since there is debate over whether hall politics will exist, students' opinion must be settled first, and in universities without this problem, committees have been given at hall level too. Shibir says its committees are small — it does not form sprawling committees of two or three hundred members.
Denying any Chhatra League connection, Farhad said the photos circulated of him with a Chhatra League leader were not from any party programme but from debating club events. He said a group had filed a writ in court challenging his candidacy before the DUCSU election, but could not prove the allegation there, and his candidacy was upheld.
Covert or secret politics is nothing new in Bangladesh or the world; it has many forms and names. Dhaka University teacher and political analyst Zobaida Nasrin said covert politics in Bangladesh in the past was mainly practised by banned parties — in the Pakistan era, when left parties such as the Communist Party were banned, they operated in hiding, which was then called 'underground'. But she believes its definition has changed over the last twenty years: “It is seen that a party is not banned, but it strategically practises various kinds of hidden politics — sometimes merging with another party, sometimes collecting another party's information.”
According to Zobaida Nasrin, the main reason for the current BNP-Jamaat exchange over covert politics is mutual suspicion about undeclared politics, and it is now visible in all parties, even affecting parties internally. In her words: “BNP thinks there are covert elements inside them — the finger of suspicion points sometimes at Awami League, sometimes at Jamaat. Awami League thinks many of those who took benefits in their time are now BNP's beneficiaries; Awami League calls them BNP's covert ones.” Distrust has reached a point where someone's past in a different party, or a neutral person's sudden joining of a party or government, is also explained as covert politics, and the word is used as a tag against each other within the same party.
Why BNP is raising the issue so strongly leads to the allegation of a 'covert conspiracy' in the government's fall, with the finger pointed at Jamaat — especially at Jamaat's movement over reforms and the July charter. BNP chairperson's adviser Zainul Abdin Faruque said: “They talk about reforms. We are not against reforms. But they are covertly conspiring somewhat, trying to create confusion over reforms that we will not do reforms. If we do wrong, the people will punish us. But you cannot do this by building a movement through covert conspiracy.” Jamaat, however, rejects any allegation of secret conspiracy or patronising covert politics. The exchange of accusations shows no sign of ending for now, and analysts say its biggest damage is the growing distrust inside and outside the parties.
