Bangladeshi Christians have endured decades of instability and persecution. With a recent election and referendum, what will happen to them?
Since the 2024 revolution took down the ruling party in Bangladesh, optimism has been present within the country’s political climate. Though the now-ousted Awami League played an instrumental role in the establishment of Bangladesh as a nation in 1971, its growing abuses of power ultimately led to the student-led protests which removed it from government. The following year, in 2025, the party was banned from the elections planned for February 2026, bringing us to today.
The nation has come to a pivotal moment in its history. The power vacuum left by the ruling party’s exit has led to a lot of uncertainty, especially for Bangladeshi Christians. Along with this election, a referendum has taken place regarding a number of changes to Bangladesh’s constitution and political system. Included in those changes are commitments towards secularism, religious freedom, equality, social justice, and more. Many of the parties who participated in this election have promised much the same.
One such party is the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI), the newer Bangladeshi continuation of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamist movement which was started during the dying years of the British Raj. Though this party now promises to uphold religious freedom and democracy, this attempt at rebranding does little to hide the fundamentalist roots which supply the party’s philosophy.
The Jaamat-e-Islami movement is still alive and well, and from its soil grew infamous organisations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Afghanistan’s Jamiat-e Islami. During the latter years of English rule over India, the Jaamat-e-Islami opposed the partition of the British Raj, because they believed having Pakistan (and later Bangladesh) be its own state would undermine their ultimate goal of subjugating the country under Islamic Sharia law.
This DNA was inherited by the BJI, and though they have in their election campaign removed a commitment to Sharia law, Christians in Bangladesh feel that such promises are hollow. And they have good reason to be wary.
Many Islamist and terrorist organisations in the Islamic world have moved to clothe themselves with the appearance of western values, in order to hide what truly lies beneath. The Taliban, for example, vowed to protect the rights of minorities and women when they took over authority of Afghanistan in 2021. Five years on, they have failed to keep but one of those promises. Similar doubts are cast upon the new Islamic administration of Syria; whose president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the leader of a terrorist organisation, donned a dapper suit and tie to replace his militant uniform the morning after capturing Damascus. He, also, made empty promises of protecting Syria’s many minorities and implementing a democratic system. Since then Christians, Alawites, and Kurds have had to endure continual acts of violence in the power-vacuum left by Assad’s flight to Moscow.
The pattern continues in Bangladesh. And though the BJI came second to the nationalist BNP in these elections, their success further encourages violence against Bangladeshi Christians. The victory of the BNP also gives the Christians little comfort, as they have failed in the past to respond to attacks against minorities, and a commitment to the Islamic faith remains at their core. The country currently sits at 33rd place on the World Watch List by Open Doors, and that is not likely to change any time soon.
So let’s pray for our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters that, though they may now find themselves in an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable climate, they may find peace and protection in the almighty power of God our Father; Who stands above all nations and rulers, and who holds all things in His hand. Let us pray also that Christ our Lord may grant them power to remain faithful, and that despite persecution the church will grow and be filled with joy!
