The dramatic fall of Sheikh Hasina has unleashed an unexpected force in Bangladesh: the Tawhidi Janata, a decentralized Islamic wave that’s openly reshaping social norms and stoking widespread anxiety. A Canberra-based report in The Interpreter frames this not as armed extremism but as insidious coercive populism, preying on weakened state structures and moral disorientation.
Hasina’s 16-year tenure was marked by iron-fisted control over Islamist elements. Through rigged polls, vigilant policing, and enforced Bengali secularism, her government marginalized religious parties—suppressing some, allying with others, and splintering the rest. Political Islam was quarantined to non-threatening public rituals, bubbling informally beneath the surface.
This delicate balance collapsed with Hasina’s 2024 ouster, exposing gaping voids in governance and ethical leadership. Tawhidi Janata emerged organically, positioning itself as society’s moral vanguard. Lacking formal leaders, it coalesces loose groups to intrude on public venues, enforce behavioral codes, sabotage arts and culture, and harass female-centric activities.
Its potency stems from vagueness: no fixed hierarchy invites crackdowns, yet it wields influence through viral crowds, symbolic protests, and guilt-by-association tactics. Documented violence by affiliates underscores the risks, from regional brawls to targeted assaults.
This report warns that Tawhidi Janata’s overt operations—branding cultural dissent as impious—sidestep repression while incrementally Islamizing public spheres. Bangladesh stands at a crossroads; restoring institutional strength and political legitimacy is crucial to counter this drift. Without it, the secular republic envisioned in 1971 could yield to populist religious fervor, with long-term consequences for regional stability.