Home
+
Published : 20 Aug 2025, 01:18 AM
Writer and columnist Farhad Mazhar has said democracy and fascism often arrive hand in hand, warning that an overemphasis on elections risks reviving authoritarian rule.
In a discussion at Rajshahi University on Tuesday, he said those calling for elections now are “rehabilitating fascism”.
“Democracy and ‘fascism’ are very close. Fascists also come to power through elections,” he said.
His comments come against the backdrop of the July Uprising last year that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government.
The interim administration, led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, has since announced reforms and pledged to hold the parliamentary polls before Ramadan in February.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has demanded quick polls once reforms are complete, while the newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP), founded by student leaders of the Uprising, is pressing for a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.
The Jamaat-e-Islami has called for dialogue with the interim government, seeking reforms and proportional representation before elections.
Farhad linked the debate to the unfinished tasks of the Uprising.
“An uprising creates a structural moment in which a new state can be born. But young people then failed to seize the power to shape the state.”
Criticising the political order, he added: “The Constitution people fought against, under which police fired bullets, looting and oppression took place -- why should it be preserved? Day labourers and workers gave political leaders power, but they handed it to Hasina, the coterie and the military. They swore under the Constitution, but now power has shifted to the US embassy.”
On campus elections, he argued they are inevitably tied to party politics. “Student union polls always happen under the shadow of a political party, because elections are tied to the state. Those elected are absorbed by party structures.”
