Govt’s early goodwill under pressure
The BNP government’s first 180 days have seen its initial goodwill increasingly tested by persistent gas and power shortages, rising living costs and allegations of extortion and land grabbing involving ruling-party activists.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government took office on February 17 promising a break from past practices, including card-based welfare support for families and farmers, cuts to unnecessary state spending and a more restrained approach to official privileges.
Its visible initiatives include Family Cards and Farmer Cards, interest-inclusive loan waivers of up to Tk 10,000 for farmers, the settlement of pension and welfare dues for more than 100,000 teachers, canal excavation and tree-planting programmes, and public pledges by lawmakers to forgo duty-free vehicles and government plots.
Officials, including Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Saleh Shibly, have presented these measures as evidence of a government seeking to replace patronage with austerity and direct public services.
But critics say problems affecting daily life are increasingly overshadowing these initiatives.
Gas shortages have persisted throughout the government’s first six months, with utility officials saying demand remains substantially higher than supply and no immediate solution in sight.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue has warned that the crisis has moved beyond a supply problem and could threaten the government’s targets for growth, investment and job creation.
In early August, regulators raised the price of a 12kg LPG cylinder while households and businesses were already dealing with energy shortages.
Opposition parties have seized on the issue, holding rallies and threatening street action over energy and cost-of-living pressures.
Economist Professor Abu Ahmed said expectations of an elected government were naturally high after years of authoritarian rule.
He said the government’s request for more time was understandable given the fragile economy it inherited, but six months was sufficient to send positive signals across several sectors.
He recommended prioritising investment and job creation by reducing lending rates, increasing development spending and lowering taxes.
The pace of political and institutional reform has also drawn criticism.
Political analyst and researcher Altaf Parvez said BNP appeared reluctant to pursue fundamental reforms, citing slow progress in amending the Human Rights Commission and enforced-disappearance prevention laws.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said disagreements among political parties had already emerged during the National Consensus Commission talks, with major reform proposals facing dissent.
With BNP holding a two-thirds-plus majority in parliament, he said constitutional reform would depend largely on the ruling party’s political will.
He also said accountable governance, a core demand of the July uprising, was yet to be fully demonstrated by BNP’s political conduct.
The sharper criticism is directed at the ruling party itself. Local reports have accused BNP-affiliated leaders and activists of extorting shopkeepers and fishermen, taking control of markets, ponds and land, and operating informal “arbitration” networks allegedly used to extract money.
In one widely discussed case, a former Chhatra League activist reportedly presented himself as a BNP leader after the change of government and allegedly built a group involved in extortion and attempts to seize local assets.
A Jubo Shakti leader has also alleged that extortion has become a major source of income for BNP activists at grassroots level, warning that many local leaders and activists would lose their financial incentive to remain active if the practice ended.
BNP leaders have rejected such allegations. A party vice-chairman argued that a rival faction was taking control of banks and institutions before blaming BNP.
However, internal complaints against BNP leaders have reportedly increased at central and district offices. Critics say that despite promises of organisational action, consistent disciplinary measures have yet to become clearly visible.
A damaging comparison
The combination of persistent economic pressures, allegations against ruling-party activists and slow-moving reforms is fuelling a politically damaging narrative that BNP and the Awami League could reproduce similar patterns of local patronage, extortion and impunity despite their political differences.
BNP leaders reject the comparison, but it continues to surface in local reports, opposition criticism and comments from some of the party’s own supporters.
The government’s first 180 days have therefore produced a mixed picture.
Its welfare initiatives, austerity pledges and people-focused programmes have helped establish an early reform-oriented image, but energy shortages, rising costs, allegations of wrongdoing and delays in reform are increasingly testing that goodwill.
The challenge for the Tarique Rahman government is now to turn its early promises into tangible improvements before the initial political honeymoon gives way to wider public disillusionment.
