The largest Islamist party in Bangladesh. It was banned under Sheikh Hasina's regime and unbanned after the Gen-Z revolution that toppled her in August 2024. Its current leader is Shafiqur Rahman. In the war of liberation in 1971, Jamaat fought against independence from Pakistan.
In the February 2026 election Jamaat became the country's main opposition, winning about a third of all votes. It pulled off the comeback by reinventing itself: under Rahman it plays down its religious roots, presenting itself as the party of change, anti-corruption and good governance, in contrast to the two big parties—the BNP and the Awami League—that have taken turns in power for most of Bangladesh's existence. Its student wing won all the big student-union elections in late 2025, and it forged an electoral pact with the Gen-Z revolutionaries' new party.
Its rise has alarmed the urban middle class: it fielded no female candidates, and Rahman provoked protests when he suggested that biological imperatives made it hard for women to become political leaders. The party is split between moderates and hardliners; Rahman himself frames Jamaat's agenda in centre-right terms, insisting that sharia is simply about "justice, welfare and restraint of power".
snappy repartee: What you'd say if you had another chance.