At 6am on December 30, 2025, the nation woke to the passing of Begum Khaleda Zia, who breathed her last after a prolonged battle with numerous illnesses. Her departure from this mortal coil is the end of a chapter – one that spanned decades of hardship, struggle, and resilience.
Khaleda Zia’s entry into politics was born of tragedy after the assassination of her husband, President Ziaur Rahman.
Thrust into public life almost reluctantly, what followed was a career that would see her become our country’s first female prime minister after the autocracy that defined the 1980s was finally toppled — a milestone that broke barriers and reshaped what women leaders could achieve, not just in our country but in the whole of South Asia.
Through all of Khaleda Zia’s years in politics, from the fierce rivalries to the numerous imprisonments that began in the 1980s and continued right up to 2024 when, after the events of the Monsoon Revolution in July and August, she was finally free, only for her health to continue declining, the one word that defined her was grace.
During the numerous moments of personal suffering over the years, she remained composed, embodying the resilience of a nation that continued to endure hardship and rebirth.
Indeed, to remember Khaleda Zia is to remember Bangladesh and it is a disservice to her and her legacy if we confine it to party lines or electoral contests.
This is a leader that represented aspirations for stability and progress, a symbol of empowerment and simultaneously a reminder of the fragility of our democracy. This is a leader that, regardless of what transpired, never abandoned her nation, and remained within its borders, right to her last breath.
She was the first woman in Bangladesh to prove that women could lead at the highest level, and offered hope and a voice to millions of girls and women.
Through her trials and tribulations, the costs of leadership, the burdens of rivalry, and the endurance required to stand firm in the face of adversity shone through, and are lessons that many leaders in our nation, past and present, could do with.
Khaleda Zia navigated the complexities of leading Bangladesh in a society that was caught between paying homage to its past and origin while needing to embrace modernity and the future. She endured imprisonment and illness for years, yet never surrendered to hopelessness and despair.
Through it all, she became synonymous with composure and grace, even when everything around her seemed to be the exact opposite of these values. As such, what she has offered Bangladesh is so much more than just policies.
To say an individual such as her is irreplaceable is a gross understatement. She leaves behind a legacy that invites reflection beyond politics, a moment to see her not as a rival or partisan figure, but as a true daughter of Bangladesh – shaped by its struggles and devoted to its future, no matter how cruel her own predicament was.
In her death, we honour not only a former prime minister but a woman and a leader who, through all of the ups and downs of an extraordinary life, represented what Bangladesh was all about. Her story will remain woven into the very fabric of our nation and conscience. May she be remembered as an enduring example of what it means to be a leader with grace and dignity.
