Bangladesh’s first woman Prime Minister and long-time chairperson of the (BNP), passed away on December 30, 2025, at the age of 80 while undergoing treatment at in Dhaka. The BNP confirmed that she had been critically ill for weeks and was on ventilator support due to multiple health complications. Her death marks the end of an era in politics, where she remained a dominant and deeply polarising figure for more than three decades, shaping national discourse through power, protest, prison, and perseverance.
Khaleda Zia first rose to political prominence after the assassination of her husband, former President Ziaur Rahman, in 1981. Initially known as a reserved and reluctant public figure, she later emerged as a formidable leader, taking charge of the BNP and steering it to power in 1991, becoming the country’s first female Prime Minister. Her tenure saw major structural reforms, including the restoration of the parliamentary system, encouragement of foreign investment, and expansion of primary education. However, her political journey was also marked by instability, allegations of corruption, and a prolonged, bitter rivalry with , a feud that came to define Bangladeshi politics and often paralysed governance through strikes, street violence, and institutional deadlock.
Despite being out of power since 2006, jailed and later placed under house arrest, Khaleda Zia continued to command loyalty within the BNP and sympathy among sections of the public who viewed her legal troubles as politically motivated. Her release from house arrest in 2024 following Hasina’s ouster and her acquittal in early 2025 briefly revived her symbolic political presence, even as her health steadily declined. Her passing now leaves a significant vacuum within the BNP and raises critical questions about the party’s leadership and direction ahead of parliamentary elections. More broadly, it closes a defining chapter in Bangladesh’s post-independence political history—one dominated by two rival leaders whose personal animosity profoundly shaped the nation’s democratic trajectory.
