'Will India have to deal with Jamaat govt?' Shashi Tharoor on party's win in Dhaka University polls; calls it 'worrying sign'

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed concern over the victory of Jamaat-e-Islami ’s student wing in the Dhaka University (DU) student union polls , questioning whether India may soon have to deal with a Jamaat-led government in Bangladesh.

“This may have registered as barely a blip on most Indian minds, but it is a worrying portent of things to come,” the former diplomat wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of a news report on the win.


Tharoor noted that voters were increasingly turning to the Jamaat-e-Islami not out of religious zeal but because they saw the party as untainted by the corruption and misgovernance associated with the two traditional rivals — the now-banned Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). “How will this play out in the February 2026 general elections? Will New Delhi be dealing with a Jamaat majority next door?” he asked.

According to Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo, candidates backed by Islami Chhatra Shibir , contesting under the banner of the Oikkoboddho Shikkharthi Jote (United Students’ Alliance), won nine of the 15 key posts, including vice president (VP), general secretary (GS) and assistant general secretary (AGS).

For the VP post, Abu Shadik Kayem secured 14,042 votes, defeating his closest rival — BNP student wing leader Abidul Islam Khan — who polled 5,708 votes.

The report noted that during the Awami League’s 15-year rule, Shibir could not operate openly on the Dhaka University campus, with its suspected activists often facing assaults in residential halls.

But following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina-led government in August 2024 after a student-led movement, the Shibir resurfaced publicly. Bangladesh is currently under a caretaker administration headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which banned the Awami League in May.

Hasina has been living in India since her ouster.