Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s 1st female prime minister dies at 80

MNTV Desk

DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) –– Begum Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister and one of the most consequential figures in the country’s political history, died early Tuesday after a prolonged illness. She was 80.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which she led for decades, said Khaleda Zia passed away at 6 a.m. local time, shortly after the Fajr prayer, while undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka.

Doctors said she had been battling multiple serious health conditions, including advanced liver cirrhosis, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and kidney and lung complications.

Her death closes the chapter on a life that mirrored Bangladesh’s own modern political journey. For supporters, she was a symbol of defiance, dignity, and democratic resistance.

For critics, she embodied the confrontational, zero-sum politics that often paralyzed governance. Few leaders, however, left a deeper imprint on the country’s institutions, political culture, and imagination.

From private life to public calling

Khaleda Zia was not born into politics. Born in 1945 in Jalpaiguri, a city in the Indian state of West Bengal, close to the borders with Bangladesh and Bhutan, and in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas, and known by the nickname “Putul,” she led a largely private life, focusing on family and education.

In 1960, she married Ziaur Rahman, then a young Pakistani army officer. Her life changed irrevocably in 1971, when Ziaur Rahman emerged as one of the military leaders of Bangladesh’s war of independence.

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975, Bangladesh went through a period of intense political instability marked by coups and countercoups. Ziaur Rahman, then a senior army officer, gradually emerged as the most powerful figure. He became president of Bangladesh in April 1977.

A decade after creation of Bangladesh, in 1981, he was assassinated in an attempted military coup while serving as president.

Widowed at 36, Khaleda Zia was suddenly thrust into a political vacuum. Ziaur Rahman had founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and after his death, the party faced fragmentation.

Despite having no political background and a reputation for being shy, she stepped forward to hold the party together. By 1984, she had become its chairperson, beginning one of the most remarkable second acts in South Asian political history.

Khaleda Zia first came to power in 1991, leading the BNP to victory in what was widely hailed as Bangladesh’s first genuinely free parliamentary election after years of military rule.

With that win, she became the country’s first female prime minister and only the second woman to lead a democratically elected government in a Muslim-majority nation, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.

She oversaw the restoration of the parliamentary system, shifting power away from the presidency and strengthening the role of the prime minister. Her government lifted restrictions on foreign investment and made primary education compulsory and free, policies that helped lay the groundwork for future economic growth.

She lost power briefly in 1996 but returned five years later with a landslide victory, beginning her third term as prime minister in 2001.

Khaleda Zia led the country thrice as prime minister and shaped Bangladesh’s foreign policy. Throughout her tenure, she stressed strategic autonomy and framed her politics as a defense of national sovereignty.

Her relationship with India was often tense. Her political strategy emphasized reducing India’s influence in Bangladesh’s domestic and regional affairs. In pursuit of this objective, she formed alliances with Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami, to counter the Awami League, which was widely viewed as maintaining close ties with New Delhi.

As prime minister, she refused to grant transit rights across Bangladeshi territory for India’s northeastern states, arguing it would undermine Bangladesh’s security.

She also opposed toll-free movement of Indian trucks through Bangladesh, once calling it an unacceptable burden on national interests.

Zia rejected the renewal of the 1972 Indo-Bangladesh Friendship Treaty, saying it constrained Bangladesh’s independent decision-making.

Under her leadership, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party positioned itself as a counterweight to Indian influence in South Asia. Supporters remember her as a nationalist leader who sought balance in regional relations.

Battling begums

No account of Khaleda Zia’s life is complete without her rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The two women briefly stood together in the late 1980s to lead a mass uprising that toppled military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990.

That alliance soon collapsed, giving way to one of the most enduring and bitter rivalries in modern politics. The media dubbed them the “battling begums,” a shorthand for a feud that dominated Bangladesh for more than three decades.

Their contrasting styles sharpened the divide. Khaleda Zia was often described as reserved, measured, and traditional in demeanor, yet fiercely uncompromising when defending her party.

Hasina was more outspoken and leaned towards India. The rivalry fueled repeated cycles of boycotts, street protests, strikes, and political violence that periodically brought the country to a standstill.

Supporters of Khaleda Zia saw her as a stabilizing figure who stood up to authoritarianism. Critics accused both leaders of prioritizing personal and party vendettas over institutional compromise, a dynamic that repeatedly weakened democratic norms.

Khaleda Zia’s later years in power were overshadowed by controversy. In August 2004, a grenade attack targeted a rally addressed by Sheikh Hasina. More than 20 people were killed, and hundreds were wounded. Hasina survived, but the attack deepened political hostility.

Years later, Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, was tried in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for his alleged role in the attack. The BNP denounced the trial as politically motivated, and Rahman was acquitted in 2025.

Political instability culminated in 2006, when an army-backed interim government took power. Both Khaleda Zia and Hasina were jailed on corruption charges for about a year before being released ahead of elections in 2008.

Khaleda Zia did not return to office. Under Hasina’s long rule, she and her family faced a series of legal cases. In 2018, she was convicted in a corruption case involving an orphanage trust and sentenced to prison. She maintained that the charges were designed to remove her from politics.

As her health deteriorated, she was moved to house arrest in 2020 and repeatedly denied permission to travel abroad for treatment. She was freed in 2024, shortly after Hasina was forced from power following mass protests.

Despite years of illness, Khaleda Zia remained politically significant until the end. In November 2025, she had vowed to campaign in the general election scheduled for February 2026, the first national vote since Hasina’s ouster. Her party was widely viewed as a frontrunner.

Her health, however, declined rapidly. She was hospitalized in late November, moved to intensive care, and plans to fly her to London for advanced treatment were abandoned as too risky.

Her elder son, Tarique Rahman, returned to Bangladesh just days before her death after 17 years in self-imposed exile. He is expected to lead the BNP into the upcoming election and is widely seen as her political heir.

Tributes and legacy

Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum and beyond. Interim leader Muhammad Yunus described her as a “great guardian” who helped free the nation from undemocratic conditions. Leaders in Pakistan and India also acknowledged her role in regional politics.

Khaleda Zia leaves behind a complicated but indelible legacy. She strengthened parliamentary democracy at a critical moment and played a key role in shaping Bangladesh’s economic opening. At the same time, her era was marked by polarization, institutional fragility, and unresolved questions about accountability.