In the years that their public rivalry was most bitter, few could have predicted such an end to the “Battle of the Begums” in Bangladesh. With former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s passing, her decades-long feud with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now in exile in India, will also be put to rest (1991-2025). During that time, the two women alternated tenures in power, taking turns to prosecute the other, and accusing each other of orchestrating violent attacks on the other.
Condoling her death on Tuesday (December 30, 2025), Ms. Hasina issued a statement extolling Ms. Zia’s contribution to establishing democracy in Bangladesh. Those words hark back to the late 1980s where the two “Begums” had last worked together- one the daughter of the slain founder of the country Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the other -the widow of his successor Gen Ziaur Rehman, who was also assassinated, six years after Mujib. Both Mujib and Zia had fought on the same side during Bangladesh’s war of liberation Hasina and Khaleda, the leaders of the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) respectively, fought on the same side just once, to oust the autocratic President, Gen. Muhammad Ershad (1982-1990) from power. They both boycotted the 1988 elections, when Gen Ershad’s party, the Jatiya Party (JP), won a whopping and obviously manufactured mandate of 251 out of 300 seats. As women, the two leaders were powerful orators could not be more different- Ms. Hasina lived with the grief of losing her entire family including her parents and little brother, and was a scrappy politician, not afraid of taking her battle to the streets. Khaleda, who also lived with the grief of her husband’s assassination at their home, described herself as a “shy housewife” of a military officer, ruled more from her living room, while her party men hit the streets. Both engendered the undying loyalty of her followers.
