Since the mass demonstrations of July 2024, Bangladesh is reportedly sliding rapidly into a deeper realm of Islamic fundamentalism, according to a detailed investigation published by Northeast News.
The report warns that the rise of radical Islamist influence is reshaping Bangladesh’s political landscape and threatening women’s rights, cultural freedoms and the secular heritage that has long defined the country’s identity.
Islamist challenges to women and culture
According to the report, radical actors aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami are openly opposing women’s participation in public life and cultural expression. Female sportspersons have been harassed; the respected cultural institution Chhayanaut has sharply reduced public programming; and police have increasingly obstructed events featuring the works of Rabindranath Tagore.
One widely circulated example involved a Dhaka University employee who harassed a woman over what he called “un-Islamic attire.” Police detained him, only for a mob to storm the station, free him, and later celebrate him onstage alongside religious leaders—an episode many see as an indicator of the shifting balance of power.
Earlier this month, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus scrapped a proposal to hire music teachers in primary schools. Music has been a core part of Bangladesh’s curriculum since 1971, but Islamists demanded replacing it with Islamic studies instruction.
The structural rise of fundamentalist networks
The report estimates that 15,000–20,000 madrasa-style institutions are now promoting a Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, reflecting a dramatic expansion of hardline religious teaching. It warns that Bangladesh may be emerging as “a new hotspot of Islamic fundamentalism.”
It documents the destruction of cultural symbols following the July uprising: sculptures of 1971 freedom fighters were defaced or demolished, and a sweeping wave of attacks on Sufi shrines occurred nationwide. Nearly 80 percent of those shrines now lie destroyed. Sufi singers were forcibly shaved, cultural performers were threatened, and a climate of fear has taken hold in many communities.
From student protests to Islamist ascendancy
The demonstrations that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s elected government are now being reassessed. Jamaat-e-Islami’s deputy chief has publicly claimed full credit for orchestrating the movement—“our movement from start to finish”—casting doubt on earlier portrayals of the uprising as a spontaneous, student-led protest.
With the installation of the Yunus-led interim government, Islamist forces reportedly moved from fringe actors to influential power brokers within the state. Analysts note that the political vacuum left by the ouster of a long-standing secular administration has been quickly filled by groups advancing hardline religious agendas.
A policy brief from the Asian security forum RSIS observed that the post-uprising instability has accelerated religious extremism, leading to rising intolerance toward minorities, women’s rights advocates, and secular cultural voices.
Implications for Bangladesh
The report highlights two urgent dangers. First, the erosion of secular public space: restrictions on women’s participation, shrinking cultural institutions, and attacks on spiritual and artistic traditions. Second, the weakening of the state’s capacity to manage extremist networks: Bangladesh’s army remains lightly equipped and heavily reliant on UN peacekeeping missions, while domestic security institutions are struggling to exert control.
It concludes starkly, “Bangladesh could soon pose a greater problem for the world than Pakistan… Dhaka, by contrast, has a weak army reliant on UN missions.”
Growing alarm among secular forces
Many of Bangladesh’s secular political and cultural actors see the present trend as a direct threat to the values that guided the country’s Liberation War. A senior figure close to those advocating secular governance described the moment as “a battle for our liberation legacy,” warning that the ideological shift now underway strikes at the heart of Bangladesh’s national identity—not merely at electoral politics.
Their concern is shared by civil society leaders, cultural activists and women’s groups, who say that regression in rights and freedoms is already visible. One NGO leader in Dhaka said, “When a society shuts the stage for women, music, dance—it shuts the door to its future.”
Where things might go from here
Stakeholders identify several immediate priorities:
- reaffirming pluralistic rights and cultural freedoms,
- protecting the education system from ideological capture by radical madrasa networks,
- providing political and financial support to civil society, women’s organisations and cultural groups,
- strengthening oversight of extremist infiltration in security agencies.
Bangladesh has long been defined by secularism, cultural pluralism and progressive social policy. Today, amid rising extremism and shrinking democratic space, the country risks drifting into a radically altered identity—one in which secular voices are muffled, cultural traditions are sidelined, and hardline interpretations of religion dominate. For those who uphold the spirit of 1971, the stakes are nothing less than the survival of Bangladesh’s founding ideals.
