Opinion || Being in power and exercising power are not the same thing

Syed Badrul Ahsan is
a senior journalist and political analyst.

The BNP government is in office, but is it able to exercise real power? The Nazrul Islam Mithu incident has brought that question to the fore once again.

A few days ago, Nazrul Islam Mithu, president of the Overseas Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (OCAB) and a journalist for a German news agency, was denied boarding for a flight to China despite receiving a boarding pass. Immigration police questioned him and told him that there were no charges against him — but that he could not travel until he received clearance from “other authorities.” By “other authorities,” he meant intelligence agencies.

Mithu published the incident on social media. As a result, the BNP government elected in February was embarrassed. Later, Information Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan personally called Mithu and informed him that the ban on traveling abroad had been lifted.

It was later revealed that this ban was imposed by Yunus’s unconstitutional government. In other words, the blacklist left by an illegal government is still in effect — and the current government has not yet revoked it.

This is not just a story of a journalist’s suffering. It is symbolic of a deeper question: Is the BNP government just sitting in office, or is it truly running the country?

The work of removing the dark structure of the Yunus era that has been tightly wrapped around the country has not yet begun.

During the Yunus government from August 2024 to February 2026, many were turned away at the airport — journalists, intellectuals, politicians. Those lists are still active in government records. The new government did not cancel them, or did not dare to do so — until an incident went viral on social media.

There are also some other worrying figures. The new Home Minister has announced that Bangabandhu’s March 7th speech — an essential document of Bangladesh’s liberation war — will be removed from the constitution. The ban on the slogan “Joy Bangla”, which was banned during the Yunus era, is still in place. Awami League’s political activities are still suspended.

Voter turnout in the February election was only around 20 percent—some say even lower. The moral basis of the election, which excluded the Awami League, remains in question.

The trade deal that the Yunus government signed with the United States — the terms of which many say are an infringement on national sovereignty — was not discussed in parliament. Even more shamefully, the foreign minister admitted that the BNP and Jamaat were already aware of the deal. As a result, the government is now trapped in a trap itself.

Talking about democracy and establishing democracy are two completely different things.

Many of those who were vocal in support of the spirit of 1971 during the Yunus era are still in prison. The current government talks about believing in the spirit of the liberation war, but there is no initiative to release those prisoners.

Tariq Rahman and his government have only one path ahead of them — to emerge from the shadow of the Yunus era. Not to try to rewrite the past, but to be honest with history. To lift the ban on the Awami League and allow politics to return to its normal pace. To activate the parliament in its constitutional role.

A government’s credibility is built not by words, but by actions. In the Nazrul Islam Mithu incident, the minister called to resolve the problem — that’s good. But structural changes are needed to ensure that such problems don’t happen again. Taking decisions under the pressure of a viral post and ensuring justice on your own initiative — the difference between these two is the difference between being in office and being in power.

The people of Bangladesh want a government that doesn’t just sit on a chair — that takes real responsibility. The time to fulfill that expectation is now.