Begum Khaleda Zia: The Savior

— Israfil Khosru

Those of us who were born in the early eighties, like many who were born after our liberation war, share one thing in common. The first watershed moment in terms of political history that’s etched clearly in our mind is the fall of an autocratic regime in 1990. As an impressionable ten year old I remember the protests on the streets of Chittagong and an overall sense of impending positivity. It felt like we were about to witness a new dawn in our country’s political landscape. One of the things I did habitually then was to scan through the Bengali newspapers in order to improve my vocabulary and it is there where I was first introduced to Begum Khaleda Zia. The picture was of a woman clad in a simple white saree, her face portraying a steely resolve, speaking from a hand mike to the eager public. That is the image still engraved in my mind. Something about the picture told me she was not an ordinary woman. Upon asking the elders in my family I was told she is the widow of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and now the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP that is at the forefront of this movement against the autocratic regime of Ershad. Two fundamental facts in this regard  intrigued me and had a deep impression on me as a child. The first irrevocable fact was that a woman was in the forefront of this movement and secondly she did not have prior political experience that would have prepared her to take such a monumental undertaking. In a male dominated society, armed with such disadvantages, here is a lady who could not be deterred from pursuing a cause which held the destiny of our country and how it will shape our future. She definitely was no ordinary woman, she was our savior. This is how I always saw her and still do.

As a young boy my interest in her led me to investigate further. I learned how she was left with  a political party  in its embryonic stage when her husband passed and turned it into a revolutionary force against a regime that eventually lasted nine long years throughout the eighties. Upon the fall of the autocratic Ershad government she went about organizing her party from the grass roots. Starting with the 1991 election, where she toured around the country to garner support and find suitable candidates. It will not be far-fetched to claim that her singular popularity led the BNP to win the general election in 1991 and establish it to be a major force in mainstream Bangladesh politics. She was going from strength to strength as an ‘uncompromising’ leader. If Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman was the ideological backbone of the BNP then Begum Khaleda Zia was without question the organizational mainstay of the party. I have vivid memories of seeing her for the first time when she came to Chittagong in 1991 at the Circuit House from a distance. Her face still unmistakably imbued that steely resolve. Resolve of a woman willing to reach her goals despite all odds. Few months down the line she became the first woman premier of  Bangladesh, and given the current trend of conveniently rewriting history that’s now rampant in our country, this achievement cannot be taken away from her. Incidentally, my father got involved with BNP politics in 1991 but that fact in no way  diminishes the importance of the impact Begum Zia had on me as a child.  She made me aware of the heights women in our society can reach with determination and hard work. It also made me revisit the role of women in our society and the opportunities that elude them by default. 

Now three decades down the line we are ironically faced with the same predicament as in 1990. We have a regime in place that is marginalizing its opposition, gagging free speech and ruthlessly influencing the judiciary to prolong their stint in power. However, unlike 1990 we have an ailing Khaleda Zia fighting for her life while the government tries to impede the best treatment she could get. But it is important to note that given the barrage of obstacles thrown at her in the last couple of years,  she still stands as a symbol of endurance and defiance against all odds. The fact that the BNP, as a political party, has survived the government juggernaut that has tried to obliterate them over the last decade is a testament to Begum Khaleda Zia’s leadership and essence of endurance. Thus, an incapacitated Begum Khaleda Zia still remains to be the key symbol of hope for the people of our country in terms of their aspirations to return to a democratic process. As for me, the child in me still believes she is our last savior and that she will return to us as a guiding light to achieve freedom. Her indomitable spirit is a lesson  for us and will remain a lesson for future generations. Get well Begum Khaleda Zia, your people awaits you and the fight is not over.

— The author is an entrepreneur.