Bangladesh mega-bridge will boost the ruling party's popularity

Ruling party could gain popularity in southwest

The construction of Padma Bridge, connecting the country's heartland to the southwestern region, may have an impact on the ruling party's popularity not only in the southwestern districts, but also beyond.

For the last half decade social media influencers, media outlets, media personalities and cricketers have praised the ruling party for the country’s overall economic and infrastructure developments. Bangladesh’s cricket players, super-heroes of the nation, recently cut a huge cake bearing the imprint of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the Padma Bridge in the background, and then posted tweets.

While the cricketers’ celebration took place during their tour in the Caribbean, TikTok and YouTube influencers at home, too, have converged on the bridge to take selfies promoting and endorsing the Padma Bridge.

Although many detect the ruling party’s shadow in this current hype as well as the hype of the past half a decade in the lead up to this opening, it is undeniable that the Padma Bridge will have an impact on the development not only of the southwest but other parts of the country too.

The ruling party’s publicity campaign focused on the country’s recent infrastructure developments including the Padma Bridge project could well pay off in the next general election.

Indeed, judging from scenarios unfolding in the last few days surrounding the inauguration of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, it seems clear that the traditional media and social media’s half-a-decade-long publicity push has led the people of the southwestern districts to believe that their fate is about to change – and change for the better because of the ruling Awami League’s effort in improving connectivity for their region. This is indeed a political masterstroke by the ruling party, which may, therefore, experience an increase in its popularity in the country’s southwest before the general election due at the end of 2023 or early 2024.