A clinic in Dhaka serving thousands of disadvantaged patients was demolished, while a prominent YouTuber’s studio was ransacked a day later. Allegations of the ruling BNP’s involvement in both cases have put Tarique Rahman’s government under fire. This comes amid growing unpopularity of the BNP-led government.

A series of attacks, vandalism and looting in Dhaka last week, targeting a medical clinic for the poor and the studio of a Bangladeshi YouTuber who rose to prominence during the 2024 student uprising, has put the Tarique Rahman-led BNP government in the line of huge public anger. People are particularly furious because Tarique’s party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is allegedly involved in both the incidents.

While both the incidents were in the capital city, Dhaka, the studio that was ransacked was in Tarique Rahman’s constituency, Dhaka 17. The two incidents add to the growing unpopularity of the Tarique Rahman government over a sliding economy and one of the worst energy crises in Bangladesh in recent decades.

The Radda MCH-FP Centre, a maternal and child healthcare and family-planning facility in Dhaka’s Mirpur-1 that has served disadvantaged families since, was attacked around midnight on September 24–25. More than 200 people allegedly looted and demolished parts of the centre, using hammers, sticks and an excavator. Medicines, vaccines, medical supplies, documents, equipment and around Tk11.4 lakh in cash were looted, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

The following night, around 10:30 pm on September 26, two truckloads of people stormed the New Gini Properties compound near Dhaka’s ECB Chattar, where YouTuber Salman Muqtadir’s BrownFish Studio was located. The studio was vandalised and equipment, cash and phones were looted.

The Daily Star reported that the attackers vandalised the studio, smashed CCTV cameras and allegedly looted equipment, cash and mobile phones. The newspaper also reported that, that same day, several hundred people ransacked an office in Chand Udyan Housing in Mohammadpur neighbourhood, while armed men attacked a house in Shyamoli Housing in Adabor neighbourhood.

The Radda attack was initially described as an attempted takeover by a local cooperative, according to The Business Standard. Police, meanwhile, told The Daily Star that the attack on Muqtadir’s studio appeared linked to a property dispute involving the housing project.

Since then, allegations from multiple quarters have linked BNP members and affiliates to the attacks, giving opposition parties fresh ammunition to criticise the government and increasing pressure on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s administration, which is already facing challenges including a prolonged energy crisis and a long-running measles outbreak that has resulted in more than a 1,000 deaths.

More than the ransacking of the studio, the threats issued to Muqtadir by BNP members have enraged Bangladeshis.

BNP MP LINKED TO RADDA CLINIC ATTACK, MADE TO RESIGN

Nasrin Akhter, executive director of the Radda MCH-FP Centre, told The Dhaka Tribune that the clinic was demolished on September 25 by a group called the Somomona Samabaya Dokandar Samabay Samity, a local shopkeepers’ committee.

However, on September 28, Prothom Alo reported the alleged involvement of several local BNP-linked figures in organising the attack, supplying weapons and equipment and arranging the excavator used to demolish the clinic. Citing local residents, businesspeople and other sources, the newspaper reported that people gathered outside the offices of BNP leader Mohammad Hanif Mia and former Chhatra Dal (The BNP’s student wing) convener Abul Kalam Azad, alias Lenin, before proceeding to the health centre.

Prothom Alo further reported that Hanif Mia, Azad and former Dhaka City Jubo Dal (The BNP’s youth wing) member secretary Mostafa Jaglul Pasha were allegedly seen travelling around the area in a white microbus and issuing instructions during the attack. The newspaper also identified Chhatra Dal leader Awlad Hossain, alias Nada Awlad, and BNP Ward 93 joint convener Mohammad Elias as allegedly leading the vandalism and looting, while a former Chhatra Dal joint secretary, Maruf, allegedly arranged the excavator.

Most damningly, a link soon emerged between the attackers and BNP MP Ferdousi Ahmed Misti. Prothom Alo reported that several of the local BNP figures named in its investigation were known associates of Ahmed, who had herself served as president of the shopkeepers’ cooperative in 2006. Ahmed has so far denied any involvement.

CRITICISM OVER RADDA CLINIC FORCED TARIQUE RAHMAN TO INTERVENE

Opposition leaders subsequently criticised the government. The Business Standard of Bangladesh reported NCP chief Nahid Islam demanding the arrest and prosecution of those responsible, while The Daily Star quoted Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman as saying the attack could not have happened without ruling-party “backing”.

With the controversy gathering steam, The Daily Star reported that BNP chairperson and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman instructed Ahmed to resign from Parliament, and she submitted her resignation to the Speaker on October 1.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed subsequently said legal action would follow if an investigation established her alleged involvement and that a charge sheet would be filed if preliminary evidence was found.

The attack also disrupted healthcare services for thousands of patients, many of them from disadvantaged families. Prothom Alo reported that staff were still treating patients outside the ruins two days later, with more than 50 women and children receiving limited services on the road outside the main gate. Thirty-seven children were vaccinated on September 27.

The destruction of a clinic that had provided vaccination services since 1974, comes even as the country is battling a measles outbreak that has afflicted at least 180,000 people and left more than 1,000 people dead, most of them children.

BANGLADESH YOUTUBER ALLEGES STUDIO RANSACKED BY BNP ACTIVISTS

Then on September 26, 200-250 armed people stormed the New Gini Properties compound near Dhaka’s ECB Chattar, vandalising the developer’s office and other structures before ransacking Muqtadir’s BrownFish Studio. Phones, cash and equipment were allegedly looted.

Muqtadir, who backed protesters during the 2024 uprising that resulted in the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, said in a video on Facebook shortly after that the attackers may have targeted the landowner over an extortion dispute. “They wanted to damage his property, and my property got caught in the middle,” he said.

New Gini chairperson Nazim Uddin Bhuiyan, meanwhile, alleged that the attack was a planned land-grab attempt involving an organised group and hired armed men, reported The Business Standard.

On September 27, Muqtadir alleged that local BNP activists were behind the attack after the landowner refused to pay extortion, while stressing that nobody had personally demanded money from him. “I heard that they took the name of BNP,” he said, claiming evidence on the same had been recovered from suspects.

Addressing Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, Muqtadir said he did not want compensation and instead urged the government to ensure public safety. He also alleged that he had been unable to file a police case, saying he had remained at Cantonment Police Station until 4am but that no case had been filed by noon.

On September 30, Muqtadir again criticised the government in a Facebook video, asking, “You have been calling the previous government fascist, fascist, fascist. What kind of nature is this?” He alleged that state agencies and online platforms were being used against him and that he had faced victim-blaming and attacks on his family after speaking out.

BNP members attacked Muqtadir after he lashed out against the party and the government. However, that added to the anger among Bangladeshis.

BANGLADESH HOME MINISTER DENIES EXTORTION CHARGES, POINTS TO LAND DISPUTE

Muqtadir’s allegation that BNP activists ransacked his studio over an extortion demand was denied by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed. The Daily Star reported that Ahmed said on September 27 that a preliminary police probe instead pointed to a land dispute between New Gini Properties and retired Major General Golam Mohiuddin Chowdhury.

According to the minister, a group allegedly acting for the retired officer went to take possession of the disputed land and vandalised several structures, including the facility housing Muqtadir’s studio.

Salahuddin also questioned Muqtadir’s BNP allegation, noting that the content creator had acknowledged that nobody had directly demanded extortion money from him. “If nobody demanded extortion money from him, and he said he would have paid if someone had asked, then how can he make a blanket allegation that the BNP is an extortionist party?” the minister said, calling it a “sweeping allegation”.

Police have arrested several people in connection with the attack, including the retired major general and Mizanur Rahman, the son-in-law of Jamaat-e-Islami MP Md Abdul Gafur, reported The Daily Star.

BANGLADESH OPPOSITION BACKS YOUTUBER MUQTADIR

Opposition figures, meanwhile, backed Muqtadir’s allegations. In a September 28 Facebook post, NCP chief Nahid Islam condemned the attack and questioned how extortion or land grabbing could take place in the prime minister’s constituency.

“Two motives behind the vandalism and looting have emerged: refusal to pay extortion money or illegal land grabbing,” he wrote, alleging that BNP activists had taken over extortion and land-grabbing networks previously associated with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League after August 5, 2024, and was “holding 18 crore people hostage.”

Together, the Radda clinic attack and the vandalism of Muqtadir’s studio have intensified scrutiny of the BNP government. Allegations of political involvement and police inaction have drawn sustained criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups.

Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman called the Radda demolition an “embarrassing example” for the government and ruling party and urged the BNP to “clean up its ranks”, while Human Rights Support Society Executive Director Ijajul Islam called for an independent investigation into allegations of police negligence or collusion, reported The Daily Star.

Coming amid growing unpopularity of the BNP-led government, the two incidents in Dhaka have put the Tarique Rahman regime within a ring of a raging fire.