After 18 years in self-imposed exile in London, the man many call the “Crown Prince” of Bangladeshi politics is finally coming home. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s acting chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s son, 60-year-old Tarique Rahman, is set to land in Dhaka on 25th December – exactly 50 days before the country goes to the polls on 12th February.
For the B.N.P., Tarique Rahman’s return is more than a homecoming. It is a lifeline. His mother, Khaleda Zia, remains in critical condition. So the party rank and file hope that Tarique Rahman can galvanise voters by standing for election and help return the B.N.P. to power after two decades.
The significance cannot be overstated. By returning now, Tarique Rahman is signalling that the legal barriers that kept him away – including multiple convictions from the Awami League era – have effectively crumbled. Following his acquittal in several high-profile cases, his physical presence in Dhaka is likely to transform the B.N.P. from a party-in-waiting to a winning electoral machine on the ground.
