ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the contemporary political history of Bangladesh from 2009 to 2021, during which time the AL, with a 14-party alliance, formed government for a second time. The chapter describes the AL alliance government’s attempt in reforming or reshaping its stated policy of secularism, followed by a discussion of its important concessions to Islamist influences, including (1) the alteration of the secular written content of pre-primary to secondary school textbooks, (2) the removal of a sculpture from the Supreme Court premises in 2017 deemed to be “un-Islamic” by Islamists, and (3) the government’s response to Islamist pressure groups, including extremists and other violent groups. Based on interviews of elite personalities and editorials, features and opinion pieces containing discussions of secularism and Islamism and state policy from the Bengali and English newspapers in the period from January 2012 to June 2021, the accommodative nature of the AL alliance government has been reflected. However, questions about how a secular political party has been maintaining an important role towards Islamist forces (which can be a new dimension in the political interests of AL politics) remain unanswered.
