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WHILE the youth leaders of the victorious July uprising against the autocratic regime of Awami League, a year ago, announced that the spirit of their struggle was to establish a democratic polity and, that too, in the light of Bangladesh’s historic promise to establish equality, human dignity and social justice, the Jamaat-e-Islami and its political allies at a huge gathering on July 19 called for an exclusive unity among the Islamist forces to introduce Islamic laws in the country. This is a clear departure from the democratic spirit of both the bloody national war of independence in 1971 and the student-mass uprising against autocracy in 2024, for both the victorious struggles promised a democratic republic, which would ensure equal rights for all the citizens, irrespective of their religious, ethnic and gender identities. While the religious freedom of all the citizens belonging to different faiths is a cornerstone of a democratic state, granting ‘special status’ to any religion in any country on earth is a clear departure from this core democratic principle. The legal regime of any state, based on any particular religion, is bound to discriminate against the practitioners of other religions. The call of the right-wing Jamaat and its allies, therefore, is inherently undemocratic. 

While the ouster of the Awami League’s autocratic regime in the face of people’s democratic resistance was expected to expand democratic spaces for the democratically orientated sections of society, it now appears that the undemocratic right-wing forces are out to exploit the space against democratic pluralism. In the post-uprising period, right-wing forces have become increasingly visible, which is particularly manifested in their mobilisation against women’s democratic freedom of movement, physical assault of ‘sex workers’ in Dhaka, the attack of woman tourists in Cox’s Bazar, the violence over a girl’s football match in Joypurhat, and the harassment of girls over smoking cigarettes in public, et cetera. Besides, the right-wing forces reportedly opposed representation of inclusivity in textbooks. Many shrines and cultural sites were also attacked. These are typical expressions of the right-wing tendencies that need to be challenged.

It is time that all democratic forces — political parties and civic groups — mobilised for a democratic and inclusive Bangladesh in which people of all religions, ethnicities, genders, and language communities can live with dignity, equality and justice. Anything otherwise would be a betrayal to the fresh sacrifices of martyrs of the July uprising.