Politicians and dirty money are inseparable in Bangladesh

Happy Bengali new year! This week is a holiday in Bangladesh, the country that bequeathed us the vast bulk of Blighty’s Indian restaurants (actually run by Bengalis), which boasts a UK diaspora including Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain, Blue Peter’s Konnie Huq and MPs including … er, me.

New years traditionally bring hope but even though Bangladesh has a new government of new brooms, the stench of corruption still hangs heavy over this young nation, formed after 1971’s bloody liberation war when it split from Pakistan.

Last August, riots saw hundreds of Bangladesh’s Gen Z anti-corruption protesters gunned down by the police and army on the PM’s orders, culminating in youths audaciously storming the palace and overthrowing Sheikh Hasina – since branded a brutal dictator by the UN.

It reminded me of watching footage of Tiananmen Square tanks as a kid – except this time the kids won. The victorious students called for octogenarian economist and Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus (who had been awaiting prison on trumped up charges) to take the helm. He’s since led a government with a cabinet including twenty-somethings.

We had Covid VIP lanes, Michelle Mone and Matt Hancock’s pub landlord, but corruption has long been endemic to the country of my parents’ birth.

UK MPs recently heard evidence surrounding allegations that the past Bangladeshi government creamed off billions of national wealth, which is now in prime property in the UK. An ex-minister is reported to have amassed 482 overseas properties, including in London, totalling a cool $295 million; the allegations are denied.

Bangladesh’s GDP per capita is $2,870 and many live in extreme poverty.

Then there’s the institutions that need cleansing. Governing party affiliation was essential to any plum job. Over the summer, reports suggest doctors loyal to the Awami League party were reluctant to treat injured protesters. Many discharged themselves from hospital beds rather than be at the mercy of medics connected to a regime known for “disappearing” critics.

Hundreds of detainees were set free by jailers after the overthrow of the Awami League. Inmates who’d been locked up with minimal food, water, fresh air and zero communication with loved ones for years were found wandering around dazed and confused blinking in daylight, which they were unused to experiencing.

Elections will be held eventually, for the past 15 years they were uncontested. Now big figures of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party opposition are free from incarceration and all predictions have them winning.

One hears “they’re both as bad as each other” given corruption also haunted previous BNP governments. Some Awami League politicians faced lynch-mob retaliation post-August and this is wrong. The president’s palace was ransacked and residences of other party apparatchiks destroyed. Most have escaped overseas. Hasina’s now in hiding in India after being helicoptered away when she was finally persuaded the game was up. Her US-based son and Trump, ominously, have tweeted she’ll be back.

Detoxification is easier said than done. In the meantime as the Bangla world marks a New Year, to paraphrase Prince “tonight we’re gonna party like its 1432” – as that’s the year according to their calendar.

Rupa Huq is Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton