NATIONAL
The Long Walk to Bangabhaban
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is most likely to become Bangladesh's 23rd president after BNP nominated him for the post on 13 August. His expected election caps a political career that has taken him from student activism and the Liberation War to years leading BNP through opposition and, most recently, back into parliament and government.
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Long before entering politics, Mirza Fakhrul was a teacher and student activist
- Born in Thakurgaon in 1948, Fakhrul studied economics at Dhaka University and later taught at Dhaka College.
- His political activism began in the 1960s. He joined the left leaning East Pakistan Students' Union and became general secretary of its SM Hall unit.
- During the 1969 mass uprising against President Ayub Khan, he led the Students' Union's Dhaka University unit and was arrested for political activism.
- His father, Mirza Ruhul Amin, was a lawyer, politician and former parliamentarian who also served as agriculture minister.
The Liberation War became a defining part of his early life
- After the March 25 crackdown in 1971, Fakhrul went underground in Thakurgaon and helped organize resistance with Bengali EPR and military personnel.
- He and his comrades took weapons from a police arsenal and helped dismantle a bridge to block Pakistani troops moving towards Thakurgaon.
- After Pakistani forces attacked Dinajpur, he crossed into India with his family and helped organize youth camps and recruit fighters.
- His group later secured training facilities in Dehradun, with Fakhrul coordinating young recruits for the Liberation War.
- Being part of the left-leaning activists, he faced resistance from Awami League and Indian authorities, forcing him to appear at Indian police stations several times.
Entering politics full time in 1986
- After teaching, Fakhrul joined government service and served as private secretary to Deputy Prime Minister S A Bari in 1979.
- He also worked as deputy director at the Directorate of Inspection and Audit and at the Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO.
- Leaving government service, he entered politics full time and became Thakurgaon municipality chairman as an independent candidate in 1988.
- His political path included Bhashani's NAP (National Awami Party) before he joined BNP during the anti Ershad movement.
His rise inside BNP took years
- Fakhrul became BNP's Thakurgaon president in 1992 and later led its farmers' organisation, Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal.
- He entered parliament in 2001 and served as state minister for agriculture, then civil aviation and tourism.
- He became BNP acting secretary general in 2011 and was elected secretary general in 2016.
- In 2018, he won Bogura 6 but did not take oath after BNP rejected the election over alleged irregularities.
- He returned to parliament in 2026, winning Thakurgaon 1 with 238,836 votes and becoming local government minister.
He became BNP's main leader at home during its difficult years
- While Khaleda Zia faced imprisonment and illness and Tarique Rahman remained in exile, Fakhrul led BNP's political activities from Bangladesh.
- Being in opposition came with repeated arrests. During the Awami League government’s reign, he was arrested five times with 92 cases filed against him.
- Lawyers said he had spent around 350 days in jail since 2012, with 20 to 25 cases still active when that figure was reported.
- He spent his 77th birthday in Dhaka Central Jail in January 2024, after being arrested on 29 October 2023 following violent clashes around BNP's 28 October 2023 rally in Dhaka.
- He was shown arrested in nine additional cases involving allegations including the killing of a police constable, rioting, vandalism, assaulting police and snatching a police weapon.
- After Sheikh Hasina's fall on 5 August 2024, Fakhrul called for elections within three months and said BNP's long struggle had helped bring the change.
- He later backed parliamentary talks on the July Charter and called for constitutional reform through dialogue.
- More recently, he challenged Jamaat over its 1971 record, calling on the party in June 2026 to apologise for its role in the Liberation War.
Now he is on the way to Presidency
- BNP nominated Fakhrul for president on 13 August, prompting him to resign as secretary general and from all other party posts.
- He will face retired General Oli Ahmad, nominated by the Jamaat led opposition alliance.
- If elected, he will become Bangladesh's 23rd president, after a career spanning student activism, the Liberation War, teaching, government service, grassroots politics and BNP leadership.
- His nomination comes after more than five decades in public life, from student politics and the Liberation War to parliament, government and leading BNP through years in opposition.