This urban-rural dialectic — of urban non-religiosity and rural religious extremism — is sadly as old as Islam itself. Ibn Khaldun a similar perpetual cycle well over six hundred years ago; Friedrich Engels at the same conclusion as well. The rise of individualism, state and social freedoms in the city spontaneously spurs on the rise of fundamentalist forces in the rural regions. In Bangladesh, the urban movement did not require any political organisation, but religiously driven political organisations organised the rural persecution. This dialectic is the reason why this moment has a high chance of ending up with an Islamist takeover. It is not that the bourgeoisie are secretly in a nexus with the religious fundamentalists. Rather, the only organised force which can replace the receding Awami League is that of the Islamists. Something similar happened in the other Bengali state — the state of West Bengal in India — when aimed at bringing down Mamta Banerjee’s…
