Sazzad Siddiqui
In fragile democracies like Bangladesh, populist regimes arguably manipulate public perception to consolidate power which exemplifies Noam Chomsky’s “manufacturing consent” theory – meaning how public opinion is shaped to serve ruling elites. Among few others, Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule epitomized this tactic that used counter-terrorism campaigns to justify and sustain her authoritarianism mainly through exploiting security crises to suppress opposition and dissent in Bangladesh. The co-optation of intellectuals and academics aligned with the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) was central to this strategy. The government also absorbed individuals from outside its ideological base which reflected the regime’s unique ability to manufacture passive compliance of the dissent intellectuals. This helped broadly to legitimize repressive state actions in the name of countering terrorism and religious extremism mainly exploiting the police and other security organizations. Despite her consolidated power she was ultimately ousted and fled to India on 5 August 2024 amid an unprecedented student-led mass uprising. Now, India is unwilling to extradite her.
Such co-optation can be described as an “intellectual honey trap,” where academics are subtly enticed into endorsing state narratives under the pretext of national security. In Bangladesh, research on extremism was often steered toward validating government policies rather than critically examining their implications. Scholars were encouraged to focus on ideological factors behind radicalization while avoiding systemic critiques, such as the role of state repression or structural inequalities. In Bangladesh, the infamous August 21, 2004, grenade attack on Hasina’s rally became a cornerstone of manufacturing counter-terrorism narrative. The AL flaunted the tragedy to frame the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as a terrorist organization and religious traders to consolidate political advantage.
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