The ‘Battle of the Begums’ in Bangladesh has defined the country’s politics over the past three decades. Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, two former prime ministers, have ruled Bangladesh alternately since 1991 and their rivalry has led to many political tensions in the country.
The animosity between the two leaders is as much inherited as created. Hasina is the daughter of Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Zia is the widow of former president Ziaur Rahman who, like Mujib, was one of the heroes of the 1971 Liberation War. Both were assassinated.
Hasina has always claimed that Ziaur Rahman had links with Mujib’s killers, while Khaleda Zia has maintained that Awami League members were behind her husband’s assassination.
Both leaders have accused each other of damaging democracy while in opposition, while in power they have taken steps that smack of political vendetta.
However, once the ‘warring begums’ joined hands to save parliamentary democracy in the country. Exceptional circumstances arose during the rule of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who was a military dictator and reigned supreme between 1982 and 1990.
Conceptual flaws
Despite fighting for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, Sheikh Mujibur and Ziaur Rahman had polarised views.
Mujib’s ideology was deeply rooted in Bengali nationalism, secularism and socialism. He supported secularism as one of the four pillars of Bangladesh’s 1972 Constitution and believed in the separation of religion from politics.
Ziaur Rahman’s ideology was also centered around Bangladeshi nationalism, but it also emphasized the Islamic identity of the nation, differentiating himself from the secularism promoted by Mujib. He amended the constitution to replace the word “secularism” with “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah”, which was a step towards incorporating Islamic principles into the affairs of the state.
This is important to highlight because both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia have inherited these ideological patterns and are following them.
Beginning of political rivalry
However, the animosity between the two leaders is not just based on ideology. Both leaders have accused each other’s political parties of playing a role in the murders of their respective families.
On 15 August 1975, six middle-level officers of the Bangladeshi army, along with a few hundred soldiers, assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. His entire family was killed with him, except his two daughters – Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana – who were in Germany.
Although there is no evidence that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the coup, he benefited from Mujib’s assassination. Within two years of Mujib’s assassination, Ziaur Rahman rose from army chief to president.
Moreover, he did not take any steps to bring Mujib’s killers to justice during his tenure. In fact, his government provided immunity to the killers through the Indemnity Ordinance, which was later repealed by Sheikh Hasina in 1996.
On the other hand, Khaleda Zia accused Awami League members of playing a role in her husband’s assassination. She was seen as a doting wife and devoted mother until Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in a coup attempt by the army in 1981.
He also argued that Ziaur Rahman’s role in achieving independence from Pakistan has been ignored by the Awami League.
united against a common enemy
A year after the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad took power in Bangladesh as Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) in a bloodless coup. Ershad was a pro-Islamist ruler who made Islam the national religion of Bangladesh.
At that time, Sheikh Hasina was the leader of the Awami League while Khaleda Zia was the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Both women had to take up the respective responsibilities on the demand of the parties after murders in their families.
In 1986, Hussain Muhammad Ershad held a presidential election, the first under military rule. The BNP boycotted the election, citing lack of a fair and free electoral environment.
The Awami League took part in the election but was defeated. Ershad’s Jatiya (People’s) Party won a landslide victory, winning 153 of the 300 seats, while the Awami League got 76 seats.
Opposition parties and independent observers claimed that the government manipulated the results to ensure a victory for the Jatiya Party.
Opposition parties refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Ershad regime, yet he did not step down. This led to mass demonstrations demanding his ouster in 1987.
Siege of Dhaka
Ershad’s strengthening regime forced Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to join hands. The two women leaders, who did not like to come face to face, met on 28 October 1987 to coordinate efforts to exert more pressure on the Ershad regime.
Several events were planned to protest against Ershad and the action was named ‘Siege of Dhaka’.
As part of the movement, opposition parties planned a strike in Dhaka, aimed at pressuring Ershad to step down. However, the plan for a 72-hour strike was thwarted by Ershad, who declared a state of emergency on November 27, 1987, resulting in the arrest of Hasina, Khaleda Zia and other main opposition leaders.
Ershad ordered the police to detain protesters in Dhaka and imposed a 30-hour curfew starting at midnight.
The opposition finds itself in a weak position as Ershad’s regime still continues and the president has announced that he will complete his term.
However, the opposition launched another round of protests in October 1990, bolstered by support from members of civil society such as doctors, lawyers, and intellectuals.
After closing universities, declaring another state of emergency and imposing an indefinite curfew in Dhaka, Ershad finally announced on 3 December 1990 that he was willing to make concessions to the opposition.
A day later the opposition rejected his proposal and more than a million people marched through the streets of Dhaka.
Ershad agreed to step down the same day, making Hasina and Zia’s resistance against him successful.
The unity between the two leaders was crucial in the fall of Ershad. This led to the establishment of a caretaker government, which oversaw the transition to parliamentary democracy and the holding of elections in 1991.
Back to bitterness
Although their show of strength against Ershad was a defining moment in Bangladesh’s political history, the unity of Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia was short-lived.
The BNP came to power in the country in the 1991 elections and Khaleda Zia became the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary system of government in which power was in the hands of the Prime Minister.
Since then, the BNP and the Awami League have been at loggerheads and have been ruling the country alternately.
Khaleda Zia lost the 1996 election to Hasina, then returned to power in another election five years later.
Their animosity continued, bordering on petty. After Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, she launched a massive crackdown against BNP leaders. Zia also faced several criminal charges and was sent to jail in 2018 after being sentenced to 17 years in prison in a corruption case.
However, Jia also tried to present herself as a peacemaker between the two. In a 2006 interview with Time magazine, she said, “It’s not mutual consent. I want to be friends. I would love to meet her… We have to work together to solve the problems. I wrote a letter, but she didn’t get it. If she really wants to cooperate, tell her she can come. But if she doesn’t want to come, I can’t help.”
Sheikh Hasina was even more adamant. In May 2007, she told Bangladesh’s New Age newspaper, “Why should I cooperate with people who are surrounded by the stench of corruption? We are anyway being kept with these corrupt, power-hungry people. Why should we take responsibility for them?”
In 2015, Khaleda Zia was embroiled in controversy when she celebrated her fake birthday on 15 August. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated on this day in 1975. A case was also registered against her.
Hasina leaves, Zia returns
The decades-old ‘Battle of the Begums’ took a new turn on 6 August this year when Khaleda Zia was released from jail.
This happened after Sheikh Hasina On 5 August he resigned from the post of Prime Minister and fled from Bangladesh with his sister Sheikh Rehana. His resignation came amid student protests against reservation in government jobs. His residence was attacked and his belongings looted by protesters.
A day after his resignation, Khaleda Zia was released from jailHowever, the 78-year-old BNP leader is recovering from multiple ailments and may not return as prime minister.
Sheikh Hasina’s political career is also now on the decline. At the age of 76, it may be difficult for her to return to Bangladesh and gain power, as public sentiment is strong against her. This is happening despite her son. Sajeeb Wazed Joy claims she will return to Bangladesh And when the situation improves, we will revive the Awami League.
In all likelihood, the ‘Battle of the Begums’ will never be fought on Bangladesh’s political arena again. But their rivalry will remain a defining feature of the country’s politics for years to come.
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