Dhaka, Dec. 26 -- More than 17 years after he left Bangladesh, Tarique Rahman came home to a human tide.

Flags rippled along Dhaka's eastern edge, traffic froze, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) transformed a homecoming into a demonstration of force just weeks before a pivotal election.

Barely two months before the simultaneous parliamentary elections and referendum, the BNP mobilised tens of thousands of activists from across the country, converging on the capital to project itself once again as a dominant political force.

Standing on a reception stage along the Purbachal 300 Feet Road, on Dhaka's eastern fringe, the BNP's acting chairman thanked the nation and framed his return as a moment of democratic renewal.

Invoking M...