The politics of narrative: How stories shape reality in Bangladesh

Politics everywhere runs on stories, but in Bangladesh, the “politics of narrative" has been especially powerful.

- BY HABIB ZAFARULLAH

Competing tales of identity, progress, and legitimacy form the invisible architecture of political life, shaping not only how events are remembered but also how they are lived.

Walter Fisher's narrative paradigm captures this dynamic well: humans are storytellers who make sense of the world through coherent narratives rather than abstract arguments. Narratives are symbolic actions—words and deeds with sequence and meaning—that persuade, unite, or divide. Benedict Anderson likewise argued that nations are "imagined communities," built from shared stories that bind strangers into a common identity. Wars, revolutions, and political struggles become meaningful only when translated into narratives that enter collective memory.

Narrative politics also shape Bangladesh's international image. The Rohingya refugee crisis is a prime example. The government framed Bangladesh as a humanitarian outpost, a small, resource-strapped nation shouldering an immense global burden. This story positioned the country as morally upright before international audiences, a strategy that helped attract foreign aid and soften criticism of its own human rights record.

The defining story for Bangladesh is, of course, the 1971 Liberation War. Like a literary classic that spawns endless reinterpretations, this momentous episode provides a key foundation for political narratives. Every party and leader must position themselves in relation to it, either as its "legitimate heirs" or as "challengers" to its meaning.

The Awami League, under Sheikh Hasina, cast itself as the guardian of the "true" liberation narrative. This framing turned rivals into something more sinister than competitors: Pakistani "collaborators" betraying the national cause. Legitimacy, too, was genealogical—Awami League presented itself as the nation's founding force, with its politics rooted in a legacy of the resistance movement passed down through generations.