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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today, people in Bangladesh are casting ballots in their first fair nationwide elections in years. Former ruler Sheikh Hasina left power in August 2024 after mass protests. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on two opposing candidates who are trying to practice a new kind of politics.
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DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Sanjida Tuli's face flutters from banners strung across busy roads.
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HADID: She's contesting for a seat in Parliament from Dhaka District 14. She's representing the Bangladesh National Party. She introduces herself.
SANJIDA TULI: I'm a human rights activist.
HADID: But for some, Tuli needs no introduction. For years, she advocated for the hundreds of men who disappeared without a trace during the last decade or so of Sheikh Hasina's rule. She did that at a time when people were punished for speaking out. The men belonged to political parties that opposed Hasina, including Tuli's brother. He went missing in 2013. When Sheikh Hasina was ousted, Tuli hoped her brother would reappear. She had that hope because at the time, a man who'd been missing for years was returned to his family. Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem spoke to news agency AFP shortly afterwards.
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MIR AHMAD BIN QUASEM: I embraced my mother. I thought I'd never see this face again.
HADID: Quasem belongs to an Islamic party, Jamaat. He was grabbed from his house, kept in a secret underground cell for eight years. On a recent day, we met him in a very different place - his campaign office. He's also contesting the same seat as Tuli but for the Jamaat party.
QUASEM: People are eager for change. Their children gave life to come to the point that we are today.
HADID: Quasem says when he was selected to run in this district against Tuli, he felt overwhelmed. He says Tuli had comforted his family when his own relatives were too scared to call them, fearing reprisals.
QUASEM: (Crying).
HADID: I'm so sorry.
QUASEM: That's OK.
HADID: If you don't want to talk about it, it's OK. Like...
QUASEM: No, it's OK. Our bond is stronger than blood.
HADID: He says their bond can show other Bangladeshis that...
QUASEM: Political rivalry does not mean you have to be enemies.
HADID: Tuli tells us what they are doing is practicing politics, but not as usual.
TULI: And we do that work together.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in non-English language).
HADID: They're emphasizing their close connection because of the tensions right now in Bangladesh as these elections play out. Their parties, the Bangladesh National Party and Jamaat, accuse the other of using nefarious means to ensure they'll win this election. Like this 24-year-old Jamaat supporter, Sakeb (ph), who tells us at a rally...
SAKEB: There is some political rigging on election day.
HADID: Rigging on election day. There's fears that party faithful won't accept an election result that doesn't favor them. Down the road, in Tuli's campaign office, she describes Quasem as a brother. She remembers the day he emerged after being held for years in a secret underground cell.
TULI: We cried together when he returned, and we prayed for him.
HADID: She says she'll remember that as long as she lives. Quasem says, if he wins this district...
QUASEM: If I'm elected, the first thing I will do is call my sister and say, come on, let's build a new country together. And if she wins, I'll call her. And I'll present myself as a worker next to her.
HADID: To work for a country, they both hope, where Bangladeshis will never know their anguish, even as it created a bond that ties them for life.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Dhaka.
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