Khaleda Zia, who made history by becoming the first female prime minister of Bangladesh, died Tuesday morning at the age of 80 due to various ailments. This is a critical phase in Bangladesh, with national elections forthcoming in response to the recent political turmoil.

“The Bangladesh Nationalist Party would like to inform that at 6:00 am, our beloved leader left us,” the party declared on Facebook.    

People began to congregate outside of Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where Kadeesha had been staying for the last month of her life.

Tragedy marked the onset of her politics with the assassination of her husband, then President Ziaur Rahman, in the military coup of 1981. Initially involved with the politics of the country with reserve around her prominent husband, she would go on to have an illustrious political career that would span multiple decades.

She began her tenure in 1991, shattering records as she was the only female politician at the time in the largely male-dominated political arena. She initially won recognition for her efforts to bring women’s education and social programs forward into the limelight. She, along with members from opposing parties, restored the parliamentary democracy by way of constitutional change.

Her association with Sheikh Hasina, another towering personality of Bangladesh politics, was very important in her life. The rivalry between the two women was the stuff of legend, with periods of extreme political confrontation. While Sheikh Hasina was associated with the Awami League for 16 years, Zia represented the opposition against the authoritarian regime.

The turning point came in 2014 when she boycotted elections following Hasina’s abolition of the caretaker government system. Corruption charges followed, and there was imprisonment. Zia has always reiterated that she was innocent and that the charges were politically motivated attacks that sought to smother opposition voices.

However, things changed for her with a large number of protests that overthrew Hasina’s government towards the latter end of 2024, with the former prime minister being forced to escape to India. Zia regained freedom in January 2025 with medical permission to travel to London. However, Hasina is currently slated to get a death sentence for crimes against humanity following her handling of the protests.

Even as her health continued to weaken due to complications from her kidneys, cardiac ailments, and mistreatment of pneumonia, Zia retained her relevance within the opposition groups. Her party had announced her plans to take part in the election in February, but her son, Tarique Rahman, was seen as her successor should her party come to power.

Rahman, now 60 years old, had actually just returned from London last week itself after spending 17 years abroad. The interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, who previously asked the citizens of Bangladesh to pray for Zia during the time of her illness, issued a statement saying that Zia was “a symbol of the democratic movement. Her commitment to bringing democracy and safeguarding the rights of the citizens would never be wiped out of memories.”

In a rather surprising move, the banned Awami League party, which is now led by Hasina, responded with a tribute on social media sites. Contributing to that media frenzy is a message from India penned by Hasina herself, in which she not only confessed to Zia’s many contributions to their country but also made it abundantly clear that her death

International leaders also condoled over the death. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sadness over the death, applauding the contributions she made to the development of Bangladesh as well as the development of India-Bangladesh relations. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif referred to her as a devoted friend whose service leaves a permanent mark.

Zia’s family was in attendance during her last days, and this included her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. The BNP called upon everyone to pray for her soul because Bangladesh is bidding a final farewell to a woman who, whether loved or hated, certainly left her footprint in political history in Bangladesh.