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Bangla Press Desk: Former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia had hoped that huge crowds would gather in Dhaka and across Bangladesh as she prepared for what she envisioned as a final chance to lead the nation after elections scheduled for February next year.
Crowds did arrive in waves, but not for a campaign rally. They came for her funeral.
Bangladesh lost its first female prime minister and one of the most formidable figures in its turbulent political history when Khaleda Zia died on Tuesday at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness.
Khaleda Zia died at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where she had been admitted on 23 November after developing symptoms of a lung infection.
Her doctors said she was suffering from advanced liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and chronic chest and heart conditions.
Despite years of deteriorating health and periods of imprisonment, Khaleda Zia had pledged as recently as last month to campaign in elections expected in February 2026, with her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) widely seen as a frontrunner.
Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, expressed his “profound sorrow” at Khaleda’s death in a statement posted on X.
He described the three-time prime minister as a “symbol of the democratic movement” in Bangladesh, adding that she “stood as a unique symbol of struggle and resistance.”
From ‘shy housewife’ to three-time prime minister
Khaleda Zia’s death closes a political chapter spanning more than three decades, during which she and her rival Sheikh Hasina, widely known as the “battling begums,” dominated Bangladeshi politics.
Hasina, who was ousted from power last year and later sentenced to death in absentia over her crackdown on student protesters, is now living in exile in India.
Khaleda Zia was born in 1945 in Dinajpur, then part of British India.
At 15, she married Ziaur Rahman, a young army officer who would later become a key figure in Bangladesh’s independence movement and serve as president from 1977.
Once described as a “shy housewife,” Khaleda Zia emerged from her husband’s shadow following his assassination in 1981, rising to lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and serving two terms as prime minister, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006.
Her tenure drew criticism, notably over the 1996 election, in which the BNP won 278 of 300 parliamentary seats amid a boycott by major opposition parties, including Hasina’s Awami League, which had demanded a caretaker government to oversee the vote.
‘Battle of the Begums’
For decades, Bangladesh’s politics was defined by the bitter rivalry between Khaleda Zia and Hasina, a feud dubbed the “Battle of the Begums,” referring to an honorific commonly used for women of high social standing in South Asia.
Initially dismissed as a political novice, Khaleda Zia proved a formidable opponent, rallying against military dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad, and later joining forces with Sheikh Hasina to oust him in 1990.
The two women alternated in power for the next decade and a half.
Despite their long-standing rivalry, Hasina expressed her condolences on Khaleda Zia’s passing.
“As the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and for her role in the struggle to establish democracy, her contributions to the nation were significant and will be remembered,” Hasina said in a statement.
“Her passing represents a profound loss for Bangladesh’s political life and for the leadership of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),” she added.
According to one analyst, this message by Hasina was significant and “shouldn’t be overlooked.”
“The Hasina-Khaleda Zia rivalry was one of the longest, deepest, and most bitter imaginable,” Michael Kugelman, Senior South Asia Fellow at the Atlantic Council wrote on X after Khaleda Zia’s death.
“That Hasina issued warm condolence messages for Khaleda Zia, and so soon after her passing was announced, shouldn’t be overlooked,” he added.
Khaleda Zia’s political legacy may yet continue
Khaleda Zia was widely admired for her resolve but often criticized for her unwillingness to compromise, which frequently left her politically isolated at home and abroad. Her tenure has left a complex legacy.
In 2018, she was jailed on corruption charges under Hasina’s autocratic government, which also restricted her from traveling abroad for medical treatment. She was released shortly after Hasina’s ouster in August 2024.
Her political influence appears set to continue through her son, Tarique Rahman, 60, long regarded as her heir, according to experts.
Known locally as Tarique Zia, he returned from 17 years of self-imposed exile in London on December 25.
Following Hasina’s fall, he was acquitted of the most serious charges against him. His image now appears alongside his mother’s on party banners, signaling a potential new chapter in Bangladesh’s enduring political saga.
“Some might say Bangladesh has entered a new political era, given that Khaleda Zia is gone and Sheikh Hasina, the other dominant figure in recent decades, has been sidelined indefinitely,” Michael Kugelman commented on X.
“But dynastic politics die hard. Khaleda Zia’s son could be the next prime minister,” he added.
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