Over the years, enduring much turbulence, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has risen from the grassroots to the top levels of the BNP leadership.

He stood firm through the repression of the Awami League years, leading the party’s rank and file through some of its toughest stretches.

Now, in a Bangladesh reshaped by a mass uprising, he is set to be elevated to Bangabhaban.

The BNP leader, who began in leftist student politics, has served as the party’s secretary general for a decade and a half.

Now, the BNP has recognised Fakhrul’s unfaltering service through periods of Awami League rule and three mass uprisings by nominating him for the post of president – the state’s highest constitutional post.

Fakhrul, who joined politics after a start with teaching, has previously held posts in the Cabinet and serves as the minister of local government.

He is known in many quarters as a “decent politician”.

Barring a tremendous upset, he is set to win the presidential election as the candidate of the BNP, the party with an absolute majority in parliament, and become the 23rd president of the country.

Mohammed Shahabuddin, who took over the presidency during the Awami League era, resigned on Jul 24 and left the Bangabhaban.

The presidential vote is scheduled for Aug 20.

Quitting His Job to Join the Struggle

Fakhrul left his teaching job and entered politics four decades ago, leaving behind an ordinary life for the constant struggle of the arena.

A talented student of primary school, he completed his secondary education in Thakurgaon and was admitted to Dhaka College.

After passing the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams, he was admitted to the Department of Economics at Dhaka University.

His university classmate Wahiduddin Mahmud, an advisor to the previous interim government, told bdnews24.com: “[Mirza Fakhrul] was a meritorious student in the economics department. Not everyone can get admission in Dhaka College unless they have brilliant results.

“Fakhrul was a student of that calibre.

“A student of the economics department understands academic pressure. Despite this, he engaged in student politics… and he was able to contribute to national politics by following that political path. He is a brilliant person.”

Along with his studies at Dhaka University, Fakhrul became involved in left-wing politics.

In the 1960s, he joined the East Pakistan Students Union, the student organisation of the East Pakistan Communist Party.

Fakhrul was elected the secretary general of the Dhaka University SM Hall unit of the organisation.

He rose through the ranks of the East Pakistan Students Union and became the president of the Dhaka University unit during the mass uprising against Ayub Khan in 1969.

He was held as a political prisoner at the time.

After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, Fakhrul became a teacher, joining the education cadre as a lecturer in the economics department of Dhaka College in 1972.

He went on to teach at several government colleges.

He also worked as deputy director in the Inspection and Audit Department of the government and at the UNESCO National Commission.

He joined the administration of president Ziaur Rahman in late 1979 as the personal secretary of the then deputy prime minister SA Bari.

He left government service in 1986 and formally entered politics. Two years later, in 1988, He was elected as the chairman of the Thakurgaon Municipality.

Following his Father into Politics

Fakhrul was born on Jan 26, 1948, in Kalibari of Thakurgaon city.

His father was Mirza Ruhul Amin, and his mother was Mirza Fatema Amin.

Ruhul was a lawyer, a member of the Provincial Legislative Assembly of Pakistan and was elected to the parliament twice.

He was also a cabinet member in the HM Ershad government.

However, unlike his father, Fakhrul began his political journey with Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani’s party – the National Awami Party (NAP).

He joined the BNP in 1990 and became the president of the Thakurgaon district BNP unit in 1992.

Later, he became a member of the party’s executive committee, gradually rising to the position of senior joint secretary general.

From 2011, Fakhrul began serving as the party’s acting secretary general.

In 2016, at the 6th national council of the BNP, he was elected to the post of secretary general. He has retained the post since then.

Before reaching the top of the BNP leadership, Fakhrul was also an early leader of the party’s farmers’ wing, the Jatiotabadi Krishak Dal, serving first as vice-president and later as president for a long stretch.

Throughout his career in the BNP, Fakhrul has weathered some harsh political headwinds.

He persisted through the 1/11 political changeover and helped keep the party a relevant force through 15 years of repeated setbacks, repression and persecution under Awami League rule, serving for several years as its senior-most leader on the ground.

Khaleda was imprisoned for nearly two years from 2018, and illness kept her sidelined from active politics even after her release.

With the party’s then acting chairman Tarique Rahman based in London during the military-controlled caretaker government and leading from there, it fell to Fakhrul to steer the BNP on the ground in Bangladesh.

The BNP secretary general stood at the forefront of the movement against the Hasina government, continuing to build opposition to the Awami League in the face of the party’s crisis.

He has fought numerous cases and been jailed three times.

North South University student Sadia Tabassum told bdnews24.com, “The position that Mirza Fakhrul has created inside and outside the party as the acting secretary general of the BNP and later as the secretary general and the language he uses in political meetings, has gained acceptance from all quarters.

“That is why everyone, regardless of party or opinion, respects him as a decent politician, without any controversy.”

From the Streets to Governance

A decade after joining the BNP, Fakhrul was elected MP from Thakurgaon in 2001, going on to serve as state minister for agriculture, and later for civil aviation and tourism, in Khaleda’s cabinet.

In the 2018 election, he contested from both Thakurgaon-1 and Bogura-6, winning the latter, but boycotted the polls over allegations of widespread rigging and never took his seat, a rare move in the country’s parliamentary history.

After winning from Thakurgaon in the February election, he was appointed to the local government ministry in Tarique’s new cabinet.

His seat in parliament now sits next to the prime minister’s, an honour several BNP leaders say reflects how he kept the party’s flag flying through its leanest years.

Family and personal life

Fakhrul is married to Rahat Ara Begum, who studied at Calcutta University, and retired as a high-ranking official at a private financial institution.

The couple has two daughters - Shamaruh Mirza and Mirza Safaruh.

Their eldest daughter Shamaruh studied at Dhaka University and was also taught there.

She is currently working as a post-doctoral fellow in Australia.

Their younger daughter Safaruh also completed her studies at Dhaka University and is teaching at a school.

Fakhrul’s younger brother Mirza Faisal Amin is the general secretary of the Thakurgaon district BNP. He was also the chairman of the Thakurgaon Municipality.

Their uncle Mirza Golam Hafiz was a speaker of parliament and served as the minister of land under Ziaur Rahman and was also the minister of law, justice and parliamentary affairs in the first government led by Khaleda Zia.

Mirza Hafiz was elected as a member of parliament from a Dhaka constituency in 1979.

Mirza Alamgir’s other uncle, Wing Commander SR Mirza, was a member of the Mujibnagar Party formed in April 1971.

He served in the government. In 1971, he was nominated as the head of the newly formed Youth Camp Directorate to oversee training facilities for freedom fighters.