The general elections were finally held, and held most peacefully in the history of Bangladesh. Barring a few incidents of rowdyism and altercations in some polling centers, the elections will be remembered as perhaps the most disciplined ever.

I personally had to oversee one Referendum, one Presidential, and one parliamentary election years ago in the formative stage of Bangladesh as Deputy Commissioner of two districts. There were no riots in these elections, except for the Referendum, all other elections were fraught with risk. I did not witness the 2026 elections. But from what I have seen through the media, and I have heard from my friends and relatives, the elections were festive, friendly, and peaceful. Our congratulations to the interim government, and to all the political parties who took part in the election.

Now is the result what we expected? Was the Bangladesh Nationalist Party expected to have such a landslide? Perhaps not, but I guess most moderates in the country are happy that the party has won, and it was not the other way.

The other way would have been to see the party which espouses an ideology based on religion, a party that was banned for two decades, a party that still survived intact working from behind the wall, unseen. Would it have been a surprise if this long-suffering party had been able to win over the majority of the voting public, and emerged with majority seats?

Yes, it would have been a surprise, at least for me. It would have been a surprise even though Jamaat-e-Islami is not a radical religious party, and not in the same league as some of the other orthodox parties in other parts of the world. But it still is considered to be a religious party and viewed as one that is fundamentally different from other democratic-minded political parties in the country.

Then why is it that despite its reputation for integrity, strict discipline, strong moral ethics, and history of persecution, it did not have much traction with the majority of voters? Is it because despite our population being over 90% Muslim, the majority are still averse to being ruled by a religious group such as in Iran or Afghanistan? Do the majority of our Muslim population believe in a distinction between religion and politics?

I do not have an answer to this last question. But I do believe that Bangladeshi or Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh are not secular in belief, but they are non-ideological, non-theocratic, and culturally pluralist. This was until religion was politicized and turned into an identity battlefield. While they love and follow religion, they do not want to mix politics and religion.

Decades ago, in Noakhali while we were holding local elections (1976, this was Ziaur Rahman’s time), there was a surge of political activity from religious groups led by Maulana Mannan who was President of Bangladesh Madrasa Association. Since the political parties were still banned, I asked my police superintendent, a veteran police officer, to stop this secret campaign. The sage superintendent told me not to worry. Our villagers are very shrewd people, he said. They want the mullah to lead prayers, not to lead their union parishad, he added.

Although this is 50 years ago, and mullahs are not running for Parliament, yet the attitude and thinking of the majority of our voters have not changed much for allowing religion to rule politics. The majority of Bengali Muslims pray, fast, revere pirs, and visit shrines. They also enjoy music, poetry, festivals, and women’s public presence.

It is in this sense that a Bangladeshi Muslim is not secular -- not in the Western sense at least. Our secularism is keeping our faith (irrespective of religion) to ourselves and not mixing it with politics. Bengali Muslims are personally deeply religious, but politically non-theocratic. Most do not see any contradiction between these two identities. That is why Sufi traditions are an integral part of Bangladesh. That is why our music and folk culture are embedded in baul, mushidi, and bhatiali songs which portray a deep faith in God and his creations.

In our history, we have had political events and personalities who tried to preach concepts that were foreign to our people’s religious traditions springing from Sufi teachings. These preachings such as Wahhabism, spread by some notable Bengali figures like Titumir, did not get much traction in our rural people when they started to realize that these preachings were intertwined with politics.

Since then, all religious leaders who have tried to blend their religious teaching with politics or have tried to seek political office in the name of religion have failed. People do not want their government to be ruled by religious edicts -- at least the majority of them. The rejection of Jamaat in most previous elections is a testimony to that.

It is worthwhile to remember that when Bangladesh adopted secularism in 1972, it meant: The State will not have a preferred religion, there would be no religion-based politics, and there will be equal citizenship for all religions.

It did not mean that society became irreligious, or people rejected all religion. In independent Bangladesh, religion was not politicized and there was no moral policing, no culture war over music, dress, or festivals. Compared to today’s ideological religiosity exhibited by some groups, that era feels more secular -- but it was actually pluralist and tolerant, not secularist.

Fortunately, people of Bangladesh, at least an overwhelming majority, have shown that despite an impending threat of erasure of that margin between religion remaining within its domain and separate from politics, they have voted not to be governed by religious edicts.

They have stopped the post 1975 attempt to make religion take the upper hand in government and politics and to make religion as a political marker and main identity of our people.

I do not know what the future holds for us, whether we will continue to hold to our values as Bangladeshi Muslims. Will we continue to embed religion in our personal life and adhere to our syncretic culture honouring our tolerance, or will we make religion our first identity?

History does not support such change. We are a nation that was founded on our fight for our language, culture, and a religion that teaches us tolerance and respect for every faith. We hope our future leaders guide the country that way.

Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the US.