- Bangladesh prepares for historic February 12 general election after Hasina's ouster
- Rivalry between Hasina and Zia shaped Bangladesh politics for decades
- Hasina is in exile; Tarique Rahman, Zia's son, seeks to become the next prime minister
Bangladesh is gearing up for a historic general election on February 12, its first since the ouster of the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
After a popular student-led movement forced Hasina to resign and flee the country, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been in charge of an interim government. The Awami League has been banned from contesting polls, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami are the main political parties in the country today.
The elections come weeks after the death of Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. Her son, Tarique Rahman, is being seen as the frontrunner this time.
'Battle of Begums'
Over the past few decades, the political history of Bangladesh has been profoundly shaped by the rivalry between two towering figures: Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, often called the “Battle of the Begums.”
Khaleda Zia, the wife of former President Ziaur Rahman, served as the prime minister thrice since 1991.
Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founding father. The five-time prime minister was ousted from power in August 2024. She's currently no more than an outside observer in this election.
The two women not only inherited their political parties but also competing visions of the country's identity.
The Hasina and Zia feud goes back to the mid-1970s when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a few of his family members were assassinated in a coup. A few months later, Ziaur Rahman, then deputy army chief, took control and became president in 1977.
Since the 1980s, the contest between Zia and Hasina has gone far beyond electoral competition, fueling violence, hollowing out democratic politics and paralysing governance.
While Hasina championed secularism and continuity with the liberation struggle of 1971, Zia, at the helm of the BNP, emphasised conservative values and a stronger role for religion in politics, as well as a distinct nationalist narrative.
Zia's supporters saw her as polite and traditional, someone who chose her words wisely. Hasina was considered far more outspoken and assertive.
Interestingly, the two leaders joined hands to lead a popular uprising for democracy. This ultimately toppled military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990.
The cooperation between the two leaders did not last long. Once democracy was restored, the rivalry became the central axis of Bangladeshi politics.
Bangladesh held its 'free and fair' election in 1991. In a surprise victory, Zia defeated Hasina after gaining support from Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh's largest Islamic party. Ultimately, she emerged as the first female prime minister and the second woman to lead a democratic government of a Muslim-dominated nation after Benazir Bhutto.
She was later credited with replacing the presidential system with a parliamentary one, so that thepower rested with the prime minister. The two women alternated in power over the next decade and a half.
While Zia lost to Hasina in the 1996 general election, she came back five years later with a surprise landslide win. However, her second term was linked to the rise of Islamist militants as well as allegations of corruption.
In 2004, when a political rally being addressed by Hasina was targeted with grenades, killing more than 20 people and leaving nearly 500 others injured, the Zia government was widely blamed.
The crisis deepened further, especially during the 2007 standoff, when it brought back military-backed emergency rule. Hasina dominated Bangladesh's political landscape after 2008 until her exit in 2024.
While Hasina is in India, Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, is the frontrunner to be the next prime minister.
