Bangladesh’s new prime minister, Tarique Rahman, greets supporters on his return from exile in December 2025. Source: x.com
Bangladesh’s first new elected government after a nationwide uprising overthrew the previous administration in 2024 has now taken office. Elections held this month brought the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to power, prompting cautious hope among Christian leaders seeking stronger protection for minorities.
The transition follows months of violence against minorities, intimidation and political upheaval across the Muslim-majority nation of about 170 million people.
The BNP secured more than two-thirds of parliament, winning 212 of the 299 seats, and party leader Tarique Rahman returned from 17 years in self-imposed exile in London to be sworn in as prime minister. Four minority candidates, including two Hindus and two Buddhists, won seats as BNP nominees. Rahman chaired the first cabinet meeting on February 18, where ministers approved a 180-day priority plan centred on restoring law and order, stabilizing supply chains and controlling commodity prices.
Government leaders framed public safety as an urgent national concern. Rahman warned that mob culture would face firm action, while Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed described restoration of law and order as a central priority alongside energy supply and essential goods. Senior minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir pledged decisive steps to control mob violence and improve security conditions across the country.
In a televised national address, Rahman promised inclusive governance grounded in citizenship rather than religion or political affiliation. He declared that Bangladesh belongs to every citizen across its mountains and plains, and described the political transition as a journey toward democracy, human rights, dignity and peace after what he called a period of corruption, weak governance and deteriorating security.
Christian Response and Minority Concerns
Christian leaders responded with cautious encouragement while stressing the need for concrete protection.
Archbishop Bejoy Nicephorus D’Cruze of Dhaka, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh, congratulated the BNP on its victory and affirmed the Christian community’s longstanding contribution to national development through education, healthcare and service for the poor. He expressed hope that Christians would continue strengthening the country through constructive participation alongside other citizens.
Separate congratulatory statements also came from the United Forum of Churches Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Christian Association.
The election on February 12 followed a turbulent political period marked by violence, ideological polarisation and uncertainty for minorities. An uprising in August 2024 forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, of the Awami League party, from power. An interim administration was led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who pledged democratic reforms and judicial safeguards before stepping down after the polls.
Between August 2024 and November 2025, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council recorded at least 2,673 attacks on religious minorities, including killings, sexual violence and destruction of homes and places of worship. Churches in Dhaka faced crude bomb attacks, including incidents targeting St. Mary’s Cathedral and Holy Rosary Church. Prominent Catholic institutions such as Notre Dame College and Holy Cross College received anonymous threats accusing them of religious conversion activities.
Christians, Hindus and Buddhists together form a small share of the population in a country with the world’s fourth-largest Muslim community. Christians and Buddhists each account for less than one percent, while Hindus make up nearly eight percent.
Many minorities historically supported Hasina’s Awami League because it claimed a secular political orientation, a perception that contributed to the violence against minorities that followed the Awami League government’s overthrow.
Rising Influence of Jamaat-e-Islami
For Prime Minister Rahman’s administration, this landscape defines the central contradiction of the present moment. Public commitments to democracy, human rights and safety for every citizen now unfold alongside the growing strength of an Islamist movement whose history and ambitions generate persistent anxiety among minority groups.
The electoral gains of Jamaat-e-Islami present one of the most serious tests for the new government’s promises on minority protection and equal citizenship. The Islamist-led alliance secured 77 parliamentary seats and drew close to one-third of the popular vote, marking a dramatic political resurgence for a party once pushed to the margins of Bangladesh’s public life.
Jamaat has long been associated with the global rise of political Islam alongside movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. The party now holds a level of influence that reshapes the country’s political balance.
Jamaat’s political registration was revoked by a high court ruling in 2013, effectively excluding it from electoral participation, and by 2020 several national newspapers described the party as having little future under Hasina’s rule. Earlier, the party struggled to win broad electoral support when contesting independently, securing only three seats in 1996 and relying largely on alliances with larger parties such as the BNP. The recent vote signals a stunning transformation in the party’s reach.
Minority communities view this transformation with particular concern because of the party’s historical support for building an Islamic State in Bangladesh, and its role in earlier atrocities. During the 1971 independence war that led to Bangladesh’s separation from Pakistan, Jamaat supported Pakistan and organized the massacre of thousands of pro-independence activists and minorities.
In the current parliament, the absence of the Awami League leaves Jamaat as the principal organised opposition, creating a pathway for the party to take power in future elections.
Jamaat also possesses a strong organizational network and a proven ability to mobilize large numbers of supporters on the streets.
Test for Minority Protection and Democracy
Minority leaders seek credible law enforcement, accountability for violence and protection of religious freedom as measures of the new administration’s commitment to human rights. Rahman’s pledge that the state belongs equally to every Bangladeshi has created cautious optimism among Christians, yet the scale of recent attacks and the persistence of Islamist mobilization present immediate challenges.
For international observers, Bangladesh’s transition carries broader implications for democratic stability and minority protection in South Asia. The coming months will test whether political change can deliver security, justice and equal citizenship for all of Bangladesh’s citizens.
