Khaleda Zia: The uncompromising light goes out
But the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman in 1981 changed the course of her life forever, as she would later rise as an uncompromising leader of Bangladesh. Her entry in politics seemed to become the need of the time.
Bangladesh woke up Tuesday morning to grieve for Khaleda Zia as her eventful life came to an end. She left for heavenly abode at a critical time for Bangladesh politics when she was needed the most – once again, like before.
Khaleda Zia was not born to be a politician. Even when her husband Ziaur Rahman, a leading figure in Bangladesh's Liberation War, was president of the country she had kept a low profile and seemed to take little interest in public life. "At that time" as the BBC in her obituary says "Ms Zia was described as a 'shy housewife' devoted to their two sons."
But the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman in 1981 changed the course of her life forever, as she would later rise as an uncompromising leader of Bangladesh.
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Her entry in politics seemed to become the need of the time.
The killing of Ziaur Rahman left the BNP he had founded without a leader. The clean image and popularity of Zia, however, helped the BNP to win the November 1981 presidential election. The BNP retained power with Justice Abdus Sattar, who was vice-president of Zia and became acting president after his killing, elected as president defeating Awami League candidate.
But in less than four months, the BNP government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup in March 1982 by then army chief General HM Ershad. He grabbed state power, placing the country under martial law.
The BNP turned into disarray. Some leaders willingly and some were forced to join the Ershad regime. Intra-party groupings were on the rise too. At the time, the BNP urgently needed someone who could be a symbol of unity in a messy house and lead the party. It's the moment for the rebirth of Khaleda Zia to rise as a leader to lead not only her party, but a massive movement to overthrow the military dictator and become the first female prime minister of Bangladesh in 1991.
Khaleda entered politics when she joined BNP as a general member on 2 January 1982. She was elected the vice-chairman of the party in March 1983, and in August 1984, the party elected her the chairperson.
Khaleda Zia initiated an all-out movement for restoring democracy by overthrowing the Ershad-led autocratic regime. She was the architect of forming a seven-party alliance in 1983 to intensify the movement against Ershad's dictatorship.
She did not participate in the 1986 election while her rivals from Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami joined the election under Jatiya Party-led rule. She announced joining the election would only endorse the illegitimate government of Ershad. Because of her determination, she was detained seven times from 1983 to 1990.
Khaleda Zia led the mobilisation of BNP's student front, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and they won 270 of 321 student unions across the country. These students were instrumental in the movement that led to the fall of Ershad's regime. She developed a reputation as the "Uncompromising leader" due to her staunch opposition against the military dictatorship of Ershad in the 1980s and her commitment to restoring democracy in Bangladesh.
The wave created by her uncompromising image in leading the anti-Ershad movement brought a win in the February 1991 election, the first credible election in Bangladesh since its independence, but a big blow to the Hasina-led Awami League that was so upbeat expecting to return to power after its government was overthrown by a bloody coup led by some army officers.
Khaleda's rise to power through the 1991 election was a unique record as that was her first ever election. Her government led Bangladesh to switch to parliamentary democracy from the presidential system. It was a new beginning for Bangladesh. It ushered in a new era for Bangladesh as her government initiated massive economic reforms, liberalisation of trade, focus on girls' education, resetting the development path of Bangladesh.
She led the BNP to win three general elections and became prime minister thrice. She holds a unique record of never losing in any constituency. She was elected in five separate parliamentary constituencies in the general elections of 1991, 1996 and 2001. In 2008, she won in all three constituencies from where she contested.
Under her leadership, the BNP emerged as the largest ever opposition party in Bangladesh by winning 116 seats in the June 1996 election. Again, it was she who led a political alliance to win two-thirds majority in the 2001 elections, first time since restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1991.
Her leadership once brought down the autocratic Ershad regime in December 1990 through an all-out movement for years. Again, she led the movement since 2011 for democracy and free and fair elections as Hasina government in a preplanned move abolished the election time non-partisan government system to cling to power by shutting the door for credible elections in Bangladesh. In the confrontational world of Bangladesh politics, Hasina government put her behind bars in February 2018 to silence her voice, disqualifying her for the election that year. But her party carried on her legacy and did not stop the movement despite the brutal crackdown on the leaders and activists and implicating millions of them in political cases. The movement she launched ultimately paved the ground for the downfall of the autocratic Hasina regime in August last year in a mass uprising.
The ouster of Hasina freed Khaleda Zia from imprisonment. But by that time her health complications grew bigger. She has been shuttling between hospital and home in the last few months.
Unlike the last time when she led her party to win the election in 1991 after the fall of the autocratic Ershad regime, she is no more this time to lead her party in the upcoming February election that has appeared as the most crucial election for Bangladesh's political transition and the recovery of its ailing economy.
Khaleda Zia left behind her party, son and millions of well-wishers and followers to carry on her political legacy for democracy.
