The retreating Western power bloc, as it ravages West Asia, may continue to demonise Islam but the planet’s most populous region, South Asia, seems to be democratically affirming the youngest of the four major religions in both its societal and political dimensions. Bangladesh’s national elections last Thursday, one of its freest in decades, has given a landslide to a liberal Islamist political party while also establishing a conservative Islamist movement as the main legislative opposition.