Bangladesh Nationalist Party

History

Bangladesh after independence

After the independence of Bangladesh, chaos and power struggles between different groups ensued. Political murders became a common thing, and productivity of key industries did not return to the pre-independence level. Despite the funnelling of million dollar-worth of aid, Bangladesh was in acute shortage of foreign currency, and political patronage made it difficult to distribute the aid to the poorest quintile of the citizens. In 1974, after a devastating flood despite the availability of food grains, a famine began that killed around a million. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in a desperate bid to save the situation, amended the constitution and "institutionalized autocracy" by making him effectively the "unimpeachable" President and curtailed the freedom of the judiciary and press.

Eight months after the constitutional amendment, he was killed along with his family members in a pre-dawn coup on August 15, 1975, that threw the country into deeper turmoil. A section of his colleagues from the Awami League, backed by his killers, took charge of the state under the leadership of Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed, his longtime friend.

On November 3, a counter-coup led by the Chief of General Staff of the Bangladesh Army, Brigadier General Khaled Mosharraf put the Chief of Army, Major General Ziaur Rahman, under house arrest, made himself the chief of the army, and replaced President Mostaq Ahmed with his nominee Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem. But before he could consolidate his grip over the situation, 7 November 1975 was staged orchestrated by retired Lt. Colonel Abu Taher on November 7, but by followers of Zia within the army, freed Zia and reinstated him as the chief of army staff.

Military administration and presidential crisis

After the uprising of November 7, a military administration was formed, with President Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem as the chief martial law administrator. Ziaur Rahman, the chief of the Army, became a deputy chief martial law administrator along with the two other chiefs of the Navy and Air Force. However, Bangladesh's constitution did not have any provision for these arrangements.

President Sayem formed a board of advisors to run the country where Zia was bestowed with the portfolio of Finance, Home affairs, Information and Broadcasting. The new president declared a date for the national election. However, most of the political parties were against the election, as they were largely unprepared compared to their rival BAKSAL. This made the situation difficult for the president.

In early 1977, the president was diagnosed with a problem in his gallbladder, and his doctor advised him to go for long rest, compelling him to think of retiring from his position. On April 20 of the year, his advisors, led by Abdus Sattar came to see him and advised him to resign in favour of Ziaur Rahman. President Sayem summoned Ziaur Rahman and requested Zia to replace him as President.

On April 21, President Sayem resigned, and transferred the presidency of Bangladesh to Ziaur Rahman.

Predecessors

On 22 February 1978, a new party, Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal (JAGODAL), was formed with Justice Abdus Sattar as the coordinator. Most of the prominent figures were from the advisory council that was running the country at that time. It was the first attempt to create a platform for the country's nationalists. Major General (retd) M. Majid ul Haq, Professor Syed Ali Ahsan, Shamsul Alam Chowdhury, A.Z.M. Enayetullah Khan, M. Hamidullah Khan, Jakaria Chowdhury, Professor Dr. M. R. Khan, and Saifur Rahman were prominent figures. JAGODAL was dissolved on 28 August 1978 to consolidate its membership under the Jatiyatabadi Front.

On 1 May 1978, the Jatiyatabadi Front or Nationalist Front was formed with Ziaur Rahman as the front's chief, and JAGODAL joined soon after its formation. A major portion of NAP (Bhashani) joined the front as well with Mashiur Rahman. The election symbol of NAP (Bhashani), a sheaf of paddy, would become the symbol of the BNP. Shah Azizur Rahman with some of his colleagues from Muslim League. Kazi Zafar Ahmed and a faction of the United Peoples Party, Maulana Matin with his Labour Party, and minority leader Rashraj Mandal with Tafsili Jati Federation also joined.

Ziaur Rahman was their candidate for the presidential election of 3 June 1978. Ziaur Rahman won the election, defeating M. A. G. Osmani of Ganatantrik Oikya Jote (United Democratic Alliance), which was backed by the Bangladesh Awami League.

Establishment

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was established on 1 September. The newly established party soon emerged as a "hotchpotch" of leftists, rightists, opportunists, and Pakistan-era establishmenterians.

The constitution of the party was drafted within 21 days of the formation with 76 members with Ziaur Rahman as the chief convener, M. Hamidullah Khan as the Executive Secretary and Dr. A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury was appointed as the Secretary-General.

During this time, it attracted a large pool of supporters and activists who joined the newly formed student wing and youth wing. After the formation of the government, the first executive committee of the party was declared. A national standing committee was formed as the highest decision-making forum of the party with 12 members.

A youth wing was formed in September 1978, which was named Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Jubo Dal with Abul Kashem as its chief convener. The Dhaka unit convener was Saifur Rahman. Within a couple of months, the central executive committee of Jubo Dal was declared with Abul Kashem and Saifur Rahman as the President and general secretary respectively. Mirza Abbas became the Dhaka unit President with Kamruzzaman Ayat Ali as the Secretary-General.

Early years (1979–1982)

The BNP formed its first government after the 1979 Bangladesh general election. The first session of the parliament was on 2 April 1979. It elected Shah Azizur Rahman as prime minister and leader of the parliament. Mirza Ghulam Hafiz was elected as the speaker of the parliament. Asaduzzaman Khan from the Awami League became the leader of the opposition.

On 30 May 1981, the founder of the party, President Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in the Chittagong Circuit House by a small group of military officials. After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, large crowds started protesting in major cities, including Dhaka and Chittagong. The funeral of Ziaur Rahman became a huge event with the participation of millions of people in Dhaka.

In the 1981 Bangladeshi presidential election, Abdus Sattar was elected. He formed the National Security Council to involve the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Meanwhile, Vice President Mirza Nurul Huda resigned from his post in March 1982.

Struggle for democracy (1982–1990)

Army Chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad thwarted the elected government of Justice Sattar on 24 March 1982 and replaced him with Justice A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury. The BNP was thrown out of power. Many of its leaders were imprisoned, including former Minister S.A. Bari, Saifur Rahman, Habibullah Khan, Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, Atauddin Khan, Jamal Uddin Ahmed, K.M. Obaidur Rahman, Abul Hasnat, and Moudud Ahmed. 233 BNP leaders were arrested from March to July 1982.

From 1983, Begum Khaleda Zia became the de facto decision-maker of the party. Under her leadership, the BNP formed a new anti-government alliance against the autocratic Ershad regime. It was named after the number of parties with it, the 7-party alliance.

The BNP launched a massive anti-government movement after coordinating with the Awami League-led 15-party alliance in September 1983. The 7-Party Alliance arranged a mass gathering and called a nationwide strike on 1 November 1983. The strike had successful results. After that, the alliance called to surround the Secretariat on 28 November 1983 along with the 15-Party Alliance. Thousands of BNP activists led by then Executive Secretary (later designated Office Secretary) M. Hamidullah Khan, surrounded the secretariat building at Paltan and made a large hole in the southern corner of the boundary wall of the building. The police retaliated with indiscriminate firing of live bullets. M. Hamidullah Khan was arrested on 3 November in the afternoon from his residence at Dhaka Cantonment. A ban on political activities was imposed that night, and Khaleda Zia was kept under house arrest. The government was severely shaken at its core. A long curfew and ban on politics were imposed.

On 29 February 1984, Ershad declared that the ban on politics would be lifted on 26 March and on 27 May, both the presidential and national elections would be held. The 7-Party Alliance asked for the national election before the presidential election. After lifting the ban, Khaleda Zia attended an extended meeting of the party on 1 April, where she was made the acting chairperson of the party. In May, the Chairperson Justice Sattar resigned, and Khaleda Zia was made the chairperson of the party.

Under the leadership of Khaleda Zia, the first major step BNP took was to expel leaders like Shah Azizur Rahman, Moudud Ahmed, AKM Maidul Islam, Abdul Alim, and Barrister Sultan Ahmed Chowdhury from the party. These leaders formed a committee with Shah Aziz as the President and AKM Maidul Islam as the general secretary. This faction later joined the Jatiya Front and Jatiya Party.

First Khaleda premiership (1991–1996)

The first Khaleda ministry was the country's government during the 5th legislative session of the Jatiya Sangsad following the 1991 Bangladeshi general election. It began on 20 March 1991 and but had to be sworn in again on 19 September after the 12th constitutional amendment took effect following a constitutional referendum. In accordance to the amendment, all executive powers were transferred from the president to the prime minister and thus Khaleda Zia became the first female head of government of Bangladesh. In addition, Abdur Rahman Biswas won the 1991 Bangladeshi presidential election.

The second Khaleda ministry was the country's government during the 6th legislative sessions of the Jatiya Sangsad following the February 1996 general election, boycotted by most of the opposition parties. The cabinet took oath in a hurry on 19 March 1996 amid hartals and protests from the opposition parties for a new election under a Caretaker Government.

The cabinet passed the Constitutional Amendment Bill in the sitting parliament to establish a neutral Caretaker Government system in Bangladesh. The second Khaleda ministry was short-lived; lasting only 12 days, the ministry transferred power to the caretaker government led by Muhammad Habibur Rahman on 30 March 1996, and an election was scheduled for June 1996.

Second Khaleda premiership (2001–2006)

The third Khaleda ministry was the ministry that served during the 8th legislative session of the Jatiya Sangsad following the 2001 general election. The cabinet took office on 10 October 2001 and left office on 29 October 2006. The BNP led by Zia returned to power, defeating Hasina's Awami League. In addition, A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury won the 2001 Bangladeshi presidential election.

The military-backed government promised to tackle the longstanding problems of corruption, filing charges against more than 160 politicians, civil servants and businessmen in 2007. Among those charged were Khaleda Zia and her two sons, as well as Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League.

The Bangladesh Election Commission invited Hafizuddin's faction, rather than Khaleda Zia's, to participate in talks, effectively recognising the former as the legitimate BNP. Zia challenged this in court, but her appeal was rejected on 10 April 2008. After her release later that year, Zia was restored to her position as party leader.

In the general election, the 4-party alliance led by the BNP won 33 seats out of 299 constituencies, with the BNP alone securing just 30. Sheikh Hasina then succeeded Zia as prime minister, ending the BNP's tenure in government.

In opposition (2009–2026)

After sanctions by the Election Commission, the party held country-wide events for local leaders to play an active role in the national party. The BNP National Council empowered re-elected party chairperson Khaleda Zia to pick other members for the National Executive Committee and Standing Committee. It elected her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, to the powerful post as Senior vice-chairman, in a "move apparently designed to smooth his path to the party helm."

After several movements in a period of severe political unrest between 2012 and 2014 to prevent the ruling party from holding the 10th general election in January 2014 without a neutral caretaker government, Khaleda led BNP and its allies in a boycott of the election. Incidents of violence were reported on polling day, including the bombing of election centres, which the BNP and its allies were accused of. Over 100 people were killed in violent clashes surrounding the 2016 union council elections between Awami League and BNP supporters. In 2016, the BNP announced its new National Standing Committee, in which Khaleda retained her position as chairperson. New members were recruited while some older members were removed, and various new strategies for party operation were formulated. In May 2017, Khaleda revealed BNP's Vision 2030 to gain public support for the next general elections. However the ruling Awami League government denounced Vision 2030 as an act of plagiarism of Awami League's Vision 2021 which they used in the ninth general election and claimed most of the targets in the Visions were fulfilled by Awami League, thus declaring BNP's Vision 2030 as unoriginal. BNP also announced it will hold processions to hold the next general elections under a neutral government. This renewed tensions between the BNP and the Awami League.

On 8 February 2018, Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, as per the court verdict, were jailed for 5 and 10 years respectively due to involvement in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case. While Tarique was in exile, Khaleda was imprisoned in the old Dhaka Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road. In protest, the BNP held nationwide demonstrations, which were foiled by a well-prepared police force across the nation. A large number of BNP activists were arrested during clashes with the police during the protests against Khaleda's imprisonment. Due to the verdict, Zia was declared ineligible to run for any constituency.

On 9 October 2018, the government of Bangladesh formed a nine-member group to detect and monitor rumours on social media sites such as Facebook. Tarana Halim said the group's goal was to ensure that "people [have] the right information only." Two months later, approximately 30 accounts linked to the spreading of fictitious news reports regarding the BNP were blocked from Facebook and Twitter.

Ideology

Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a big tent party that has been cited as being on the centre and centre-right of the political spectrum with ideological base combining conservatism, economic liberalism and liberalism. Party's official website states its founding principles to be: "full faith and trust in Allah", Bangladeshi nationalism, democracy and socialism "in the sense of economic and social justice". The party traditionally maintained a nationalistic and Islam-aligned image, allied with Islamist parties, such as Jamaat-e-Islami. However, since the 2018 general election and specially after the July Uprising, the left-leaning faction of the party become increasely dominant and attempted to rebrand the party's position as centre-left. The party sought to take a "liberal mantle" to appese the secular voter base.

BNP was originally formed during the political vacuum after the 1975 coups, for which, politicians from diverse political background joined the newly formed BNP in order to return to mainstream politics, after the withdrawal of martial law. Many of them had conflicting ideologies, including politicians from various Islamist parties to "pro-China left and NAP". Bangladeshi Canadian analyst Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed called the early BNP "a coalition of convenience rather than ideology". Many political experts, including Ahmed, believe that since BNP was born after the fall of Awami League, the party was an attempt to establish a position in areas where Awami League was moderate.

According to Bangladeshi American political analyst Ali Riaz, the BNP's political philosophy is largely influenced by a combination of nationalism, cultural conservatism and a "pro-Islamic identity in opposition to the Awami League's secular Bengali nationalism".

On the other hand, according to the pro-BNP political analyst Maruf Mallick, the party was founded as centre-left, liberal and social democratic, and its early political and economic policy was inspired by the Western European social liberal politics.

Nationalism

Bangladeshi nationalism is the central ideology of the party. According to its founder Ziaur Rahman, the "Bangladeshi" identity, based on its history, traditions, culture and geographical territory, is different from the neighbouring nations and unique to itself. Mallick argued that Rahman wanted to move away from what he called "narrow minded" ethnic and religious nationalism and wanted to create the identity of the citizens on the basis of the state, basically on the model of Western or Northern European countries.

Economy

The party self-describes as fically socialist and claims to have practiced what it terms the "people's democracy". Despite this, the party from its beginning has promoted economic liberalism and free-market economy with limited intervention. Rahman believed that the previous socialist-influenced economy of Bangladesh had been in a poor shape because of "years of colonial-style exploitation". To abate this condition, a revamp of the economic system was required, which was primarily, according to Mubashar Hasan, an "outline for a capitalist system". According to Mallick, the early BNP was inspired by the European social liberal policies, supporting equal distribution of wealth and social welfare, as opposed to strong economic regulatory policies of its predecessor Awami League.

Religion

Although the party officially doesn't align with any particular religion, its official website states that the party aims to "preserve the age old human values of the Bangladeshi people through the teaching of Islam–religion of the majority of Bangladeshi people and other religions". The party also promotes religious freedom and tolerance as a component of Bangladeshi nationalism. Rahman also rejected theocracy as the governing system for Bangladesh.

In recent times, various analysts have indicated a shift in the BNP towads secularism, departing from its moderate Islamic position. Since the July Uprising, the party attempted to "appropriate the moral vocabulary of secular nationalism" in order to occupy the vacuum left by the Awami League. Despite this, BNP publicly denies being secular or pluralist and opposed the inclusion of these principles in the national constitution.

According to Mallick, BNP is not a religion-based party in a traditional sense and it has a moderate stance on religion. BNP's stance for conservatism has been described as "a mixture of traditional Bengali customs and moderate Islam". Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed opined:

Often perceived as a conservative entity due to its previous alliances with Islamist groups, much of the BNP's policy agenda during its nearly 15 years in government was not inherently Islamist. In fact, with a few exceptions, it leaned more toward right- or left-of-centre ideals. However, from 2001 to 2006, the party became too closely associated with Jamaat, making it easy to conflate the BNP's ideology with Jamaat's.

Voter base

Being a big tent party, the BNP generally tries to appeal and secure support from different communities, classes and occupations. However, for historical and ideological reasons, some "core group" of supporters always support the party. According to the political scientist Rounaq Jahan, the BNP was "founded with greater support from the urban and higher income groups, particularly civil and military bureaucracy and business community."

Following the July Uprising, surveys show that the BNP's strongest demographic base are working-age voters, farmers and labourers, who are likely to be supportive for the past governance record of the party. According to Netra News, the party also received support from some Deobandi clerics, Sufis, Ahmadis, social liberals, secular and some left-leaning voters, Hindus and indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the 2026 general election. Significant number of Hindus preferred voting for BNP as the latter option Jamaat-e-Islami is known for anti-Hindu persecution including during the 1971 Liberation War.

A June 2025 survey conducted by the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) on the Bangladeshis aged between 15 and 35 found that the BNP's projected vote share was higher than any other parties in the country; and comparatively high among the young males and the urban younths of the country, comparing with the young females and the rural youths, respectively. The survey found that 38.78% youths intended to vote the BNP in 2026 general election; while 40% males and 37.03% females, and 37.72% rural and 39.77% urban youths intended to vote the party.

Policies

Domestic policy

In 1978, President Rahman amended the national constitution which gave the president more effective control over the cabinet and parliament. After the 1979 general election, Rahman formed a cabinet dominated by the civil–military bureaucrats. Apart from the cabinet, they also dominated the secretariat, the National Economic Council (NEC), the planning commission and the public corporations. During this period, BNP emerged as a multi-dimensional "umbrella" party.

Upon taking power, Rahman introduced a state-sponsored Islamization process that had a significant impact on Bangladeshi society and culture. His government replaced secularism with the phrase "absolute faith and trust in Almighty Allah" as a fundamental principle through the fifth amendment to the national constitution. His government also adopted a conservative family planning programme to control population growth in the country. In 2004, the BNP-led coalition government banned all Ahmadiyya publication in Bangladesh in pressure of the Islamist groups, citing that those "hurt the majority Muslims" in the country.

During the government, the BNP focused on the development of socially backward and marginalized people, such as the women, the Bedes, the Dalits, the Harijans and the Hijras etc. During Khaleda Zia's first term, her government carried out reform in the education sector and national curricula and to encourage female and universal education. Primary education was made free and compulsory and budget allocated to this sector was increased.

The BNP is also notable for being the only major party — compared to the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami — whose constitution explicitly references women as a labor force. The 2008 BNP constitution commits "to make appropriate and proper use of human resources including labour power of women."

Economic policy

After Ziaur Rahman's ascension to the power, the national development strategy was shifted from the extensive protectionism of the Sheikh Mujib era to the encouragement of private enterprise with a primary goal of maximization of GNP growth rate. Rahman's government revised the First Five-Year Plan (1973–1978) taken by the Sheikh Mujib's government and formulated a "Three year hard core plan" for remaining three years. This was followed by the Two-Year Plan (1978–1980) and the Second Five Year Plan (1980–1985) under the successive BNP governments. Besides, his government gave special importance to the development of agriculture and planned an integrated collective farming system.

In parallel, the BNP promoted women's economic empowerment by facilitating access to low-interest loans, supporting entrepreneurship training, and implementing measures to remove social and cultural barriers. During Tarique Rahman's premiership, the Family Card initiative was launched. Under the initiative, aimed to improve the women's economic conditions, low-income and marginalized families have received and amount of money or utensils using a card issued to the eldest female member of the family.

Foreign policy

As stated in the party's official website, the main objective of the BNP's foreign policy is to maintain good relationships with the Western world, the Muslim World and the Third World countries.

Traditionally, BNP was described as being sceptical to India multiple times. The party has a history of hostile relations with India during government and has used anti-India sentiment during opposition. After Ziaur Rahman became the president, his government started to distance Bangladesh from India and foreign policy was initiated against the Indo-Soviet axis. Some sources say that the Indo-Bangladesh relations were at their worst in memory during Rahman's presidency. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia herself said, "We do not want to see the rise of any major power [India] in this region, because it will disturb the peace, stability and balance in this region". Even in early-2024, some of the top BNP leaders, including Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joined the "India Out" campaign against Sheikh Hasina government.

However, in August 2024, following the July Uprising, BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir expressed a desire to "move past previous differences and collaborate", assuring India that the BNP would not permit activities that would threaten India's security, but stated that relations would decline if India did not extradite Hasina. Many BNP leaders opined that good relationship with India was necessary for keeping stability in the internal politics of Bangladesh. After BNP formed government in 2026, Bangladesh went to normalize its strained relations with India during the Yunus government.

Ziaur Rahman's government focused on the strengthening of its relationship with the Muslim world and the Arab world. His government amended the national constitution adding articles 25(1) and 25(2) declaring the establishment of brotherhood with the Muslim countries. Following his predecessor Mostaq, his government continued the close relationship with Pakistan. His government abandoned the constitutional policies of secularism and socialism in favour of building good ties with the Muslim countries. Besides, Rahman facilitated the investment of Western capital in the country by taking liberal economic measures. His government improved relations with the United States and China.

BNP government's foreign policy during the third premiership of Khaleda Zia between 2001 and 2006 was called "Look East Foreign Policy". In 2002, Prime Minister Zia visited Thailand, Myanmar and China and met with the leaders of those countries to expand Bangladesh's foreign policy to the east.

National Standing Committee

The National Standing Committee is the highest policy-making standing committee of the BNP. As of 15 August 2026, standing committee members are as follows:

Controversies

Allegations of corruption and patronage

During the periods the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in power, specifically from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006 under the leadership of Khaleda Zia, allegations of various types of corruption surfaced, including the embezzlement of funds through charitable trusts and government contracts, many of which were subsequently proven. In the Zia Charitable Trust case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in August 2011, Khaleda Zia and her associates were accused of diverting approximately 2.14 crore BDT (about US$250,000 at that time) from a trust fund designated for orphans and the poor towards personal assets, such as purchasing land for party activities; she was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison, but the High Court acquitted her in 2024. Similarly, in a case filed in 2008 regarding the embezzlement of 3.15 crore BDT from the Zia Orphanage Trust for unauthorized expenses, Khaleda Zia was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2016, which the Supreme Court overturned in January 2025. As a result, she was exonerated from the remaining corruption charges, paving the way for her potential participation in elections. BNP leaders have consistently described these legal proceedings as politically motivated trials orchestrated by the rival Awami League government. Additional allegations were brought forward targeting infrastructure and procurement contracts during the 2001–2006 tenure. For instance, the GATCO case was filed in September 2007 against Khaleda Zia and 14 others for causing a loss of 1.45 billion (145 crore) BDT to the state by rigging tenders for gas infrastructure contracts to favour allies; although these investigations were initiated during the military-backed caretaker government in 2007, they yielded mixed judicial results in the face of claims regarding the weakness of evidence. Bangladesh's low ranking during the BNP regime was reflected in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. In 2001, the score was 15 out of 100, which improved slightly to stand at 26 by 2006. While this attributed structural corruption to elite capture by all parties, specific BNP-related scandals further entrenched the perception of nepotism in the allocation of state resources.

It is alleged that during the BNP regime, patronage networks consolidated party loyalty through the appointment of family members and associates to key government positions.

Connection to militancy and violence

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has faced allegations of indirect links to Islamist militancy. These allegations primarily stem from the party's electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), an Islamist party with historical ties to extremist elements. Formed in 1999, this alliance culminated in the Four-Party Alliance's victory in the 2001 parliamentary elections. During the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat government from October 2001 to November 2006, Islamist militant activity in Bangladesh increased significantly. This included coordinated attacks by groups such as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and its affiliate, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB). These groups claimed responsibility for over 450 low-intensity bomb blasts across 63 districts of the country on 17 August 2005, with the aim of establishing Sharia rule. Critics, including security analysts in their reports, have blamed the expansion of this militancy on indirect patronage or lax law enforcement by the BNP-led authorities. Despite international pressure, they were initially hesitant to dismantle the militant networks. As a result, individuals such as JMJB leader Siddiqul Islam (known as Bangla Bhai) were able to operate with alleged local protection in BNP strongholds in northwestern Bangladesh until their arrest in March 2006. These allegations suggest that the BNP was tolerant of banned groups involved in previous violence, such as the 2007 bombings. Assessments by the South Asia Terrorism Portal have noted that Bangladesh provided sanctuary to Islamist extremists during the BNP's tenure. Although the BNP government eventually authorized the arrest and execution of JMB leaders following the 2005 attacks and subsequent bombings that killed judges and officials, international observers and succeeding Awami League governments argued that this delay helped consolidate the militants' base. They argued that this delay was likely fuelled by political calculations to counter secular opponents. Immigration reviews by the US Department of Justice have highlighted the BNP's promotion of Islamism through its alliance with Jamaat.

Beyond militancy, the BNP is also implicated in broader political violence. This violence often occurs through their grassroots affiliate organizations, such as the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (student wing) and Jubo Dal (youth wing). According to Human Rights Watch documentation, these organizations have been involved in armed intimidation, clashes, and enforcing strikes since the 1990s. Examples include violent blockades and arson during the BNP-led opposition movement in 2013–2015, and pre-election skirmishes in 2024. Hundreds of people have been injured and killed in clashes between party activists in these incidents.

Election results