The Bangladesh Awami League, commonly known as the Awami League, is a banned political party in Bangladesh. Founded on 23 June 1949, it played a vital role in country's struggle for independence. The Awami League was one of the two traditionally dominant parties in the country, along with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and had maintained a sole dominance over the country's political system between 2009 and 2024, before being ousted in the July Revolution. The party's activities were banned by the post-revolution government on 10 May 2025, under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
On 23 June 1949, the party was founded as the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (after 1955, the East Pakistan Awami League) by Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Yar Mohammad Khan, Shamsul Huq, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and joined later by Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. It was established as the alternative to the domination of the Muslim League in Pakistan and over centralisation of the government. The party quickly gained vast popular support in East Pakistan and eventually led the forces of Bengali nationalism in the struggle against West Pakistan's military and political establishment. The party under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led the struggle for independence, first through huge populist and civil disobedience movements, such as the Six Point movement and Non-cooperation movement (1971), and then during the Bangladesh War of Independence.