The political climate in Bangladesh has intensified as Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, the chief (Ameer) of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, launched a scathing attack on President Mohammed Shahabuddin. This backlash follows explosive claims made by the President regarding the 18-month interim tenure of Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, which concluded after the February 2026 elections. In a series of public statements, the Jamaat chief accused the President of “suppressing the truth” and providing a distorted narrative of the events surrounding the August 2024 ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Rahman argued that the President is now making contradictory claims about Hasina’s resignation to suit the current political landscape, whereas his private admissions to political leaders at the time were reportedly very different.
The controversy was sparked by President Shahabuddin’s recent interviews in which he portrayed himself as a victim of institutional isolation during the Yunus administration. The President alleged that he was kept “in the dark” regarding major state decisions, including a high-profile trade deal with the United States, and claimed there were multiple “plots” to unconstitutionally remove him from office. He even suggested he was placed under virtual house arrest, preventing him from seeking medical treatment abroad. However, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has dismissed these claims as a desperate attempt to denigrate the transition period. The Jamaat chief flagged what he called the President’s failure to acknowledge his own role in the post-uprising transition, accusing him of hiding vital details about the “fugitive” Prime Minister’s departure.
This war of words highlights the deep-seated friction between the presidency and the now-powerful Jamaat-e-Islami, which has emerged as the principal opposition following the landslide victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). While the President credited the military and the BNP for preserving “constitutional continuity” during the Yunus era, the Jamaat leadership views his latest rhetoric as an affront to the “student-led revolution.” As the new government under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman begins to dismantle the remnants of the interim regime’s policies—including re-equipping the President’s office with a press wing—the institutional tug-of-war continues to cast a shadow over the country’s democratic transition.