Bangladesh, Feb. 15 -- Politics, if it is to mean anything at all, must eventually confront reality. Campaign slogans dissolve quickly in the acid of governance. Electoral mandates are not trophies; they are burdens. And for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), fresh from political resurgence, the burdens are formidable.

Mr. Tarique Rahman stands at the threshold of power at a time when public expectations are not merely high—they are impatient. The country has endured political volatility, economic turbulence, and social fragmentation. The next government will not be judged by rhetoric, but by its capacity to restore normalcy.

Here, then, are the five central challenges the BNP government must confront from day one.

Taming th...