Who is Bangladesh student leader Nahid Islam, launching his party inspired by Kejriwal’s AAP?

Nahid Islam first made headlines as he emerged as one of the faces of the students’ protests that led to Sheikh Hasina’s ouster from power in Bangladesh. Then, on Tuesday (February 25), he once again made the news as he resigned from Muhammad Yunus’ Cabinet. And today, February 28, he shall once again be the newsmaker as he announces his new political party.

Islam, just 27 years of age, served as Information and Broadcasting (I&B) adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh until he resigned. For many, his resignation was not a total surprise, as rumours about his resignation had been circulating for almost a month.

At 3 pm on Friday, Islam will announce a new party at Manik Mia Avenue. The question then is: will this party shake up Bangladeshi politics?

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Who is Nahid Islam?

At age 26, Nahid Islam, a student in the Sociology Department at Dhaka University, became well-known as the face of the anti-quota protests against Sheikh Hasina.

Born in 1998, Nahid has a history of being a government critic. In his first week of university in 2017, the Dhaka-born son of a teacher took part in protests against a coal plant on the edge of the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest on the border with India.

Two years later, he ran for campus elections and later, along with his peers, formed a student organisation at Dhaka University, the Democratic Student Force.

Nahid became a household name in July 2024 when he was kidnapped and tortured by the country’s intelligence services. Recounting the incident, he said that on the night of July 19, around 30 plainclothes officers showed up at his friend’s house where he was hiding to avoid arrest for his role in the ongoing anti-quota protests. “They put a black cloth on my head and told me the world will never see you again.”

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In a TIME report, he described the ‘secret prison’ he was held at and beaten with what felt like an iron rod. A day later, he was dumped beside a bridge. He claims he was kidnapped once again on July 26 from the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in Dhanmondi. At the time, he had said that individuals claiming to be from various intelligence agencies, including the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch, took him away.

However, all of this didn’t deter Nahid and he continued his criticism against Sheikh Hasina’s administration as part one of the national coordinators for the ‘Students Against Discrimination’ movement. On August 3, he even gave the clarion call of ‘ Hasina must resign’ from the campus of Dhaka University. On August 5, when hundreds of thousands were closing in on her residence in the heart of Dhaka, she boarded a helicopter and was flown to India, where she remains in exile.

Following Hasina’s ouster, he was appointed as information adviser in the Muhammad Yunus Cabinet. Last October, he was also named in TIME magazine’s prestigious ‘TIME100 Next list’.

Why did Nahid Islam resign from the Cabinet?

After serving in Yunus ’ interim government for six months, Nahid on February 25 tendered his resignation . “Given the current situation in the country, the rise of a new political force is necessary. I have resigned to remain on the streets to consolidate the mass uprising. In addition to two ministries, I had to take on additional responsibilities… Six months is a very short time, and the people will evaluate the results [of my work],” Nahid said on his decision to step down, adding, “As of today, I no longer hold any government position.”

He further added that it was up to the Advisory Council to decide who will replace him. “The student advisers in the government will remain active in implementing the promises of justice and reform to which the government has committed,” he was quoted as saying.

He explained that there were many limitations and bureaucratic complexities that the interim government had to contend with. “We hope the government will succeed in realising the aspirations of the mass uprising.”

What comes next for Nahid?

The former adviser at his resignation also announced that he would be forming a new political party.

He wrote on Facebook earlier, “I joined the government in August, taking on the responsibility of fulfilling the aspirations of the martyrs, fighters, and the masses of the July uprising. But that dream cannot be realised from within the government alone. That is why today, I am signing off — with a commitment to building a new political force.”

“The struggle is not over, it is merely beginning in a new form,” he added.

This party will be a collaboration between Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee (JANAC). The JANAC is a political platform floated after the July uprising.

According to a report in the Daily Observer, the name for Nahid’s new party could be one of the following — Student-People’s Party, National Revolutionary Force, Revolutionary People’s Struggle Party, or Anti-discrimination Citizen’s Movement.

The same report also adds that the symbol of the new party could either be a clenched fist, an elephant, a Royal Bengal tiger, or Hilsa fish — to contest in the upcoming elections, which could be held by the end of 2025.

Samantha Sharmin, spokesperson of the Nagorik Committee, said that the new party would be on the same lines as Turkey’s AK Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf and India’s Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal. “It will be a centrist party from rigid ideological divides,” she told The Business Standard.

Many political pundits observe that if elections are held in Bangladesh by the end of 2025 or early 2026, it would greatly favour Nahid and his party. This comes as both the leading parties in the country — the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — are facing struggles of their own.

Many leaders belonging to Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League fled the country as soon as she exited the nation too. Others who weren’t able to flee are in hiding as they fear the legal repercussions awaiting them.

Moreover, the Yunus government has announced that the Awami League won’t be allowed to participate in the elections. And even if they are permitted, there’s still a lot of anger against the Awami League and that could hurt their chances in the elections.

On the other hand, the opposition party, the BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, is also struggling as its members fight against themselves.

Furthermore, the BNP sees that their traditional vote bank has eroded and that younger voters have no allegiance to any political party. As The Print noted in one report, Gen Z and Gen Alpha of Bangladesh live in a post-ideological world where things are situational and political arrangements are based on socio-cultural issues. The BNP does not understand this new language and runs the risk of getting ‘cancelled’.

In such a situation, only time will tell if Nahid Islam will be king or kingmaker in Bangladesh’s politics.

With inputs from agencies