When ‘Battling Begums’ joined hands to save democracy in Bangladesh

The ‘Battle of Begums’ in Bangladesh has defined the politics of the country in the last three decades. Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, the two former prime ministers, have ruled Bangladesh alternatively since 1991 and their rivalry has led to many political tensions in the country.

The enmity is inherited as much as cultivated by the two leaders. Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Zia is the widow of ex-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 connections to Mujib’s killers, while Khaleda Zia maintains that Awami League members were behind her husband’s assassination.

Both leaders have accused each other of harming democracy when in opposition while in power, they have taken steps which reek of political vendetta.

However, the ‘Battling Begums’ once joined hands to save parliamentary democracy in the country. The extraordinary circumstances arose during the rule of General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, a military dictator who reigned supreme between 1982 and 1990.

IDEOLOGICAL FAULTLINES

Sheikh Mujib and Ziaur Rahman, despite fighting for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, had polarising views.

Mujib’s ideology was deeply rooted in Bengali nationalism, secularism, and socialism. He championed secularism as one of the four pillars of the 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh and believed in the separation of religion from politics.

Ziaur Rahman’s ideology was also centred around Bangladeshi nationalism, but it also emphasised the Islamic identity of the nation, distancing itself from the secularism promoted by Mujib. He amended the Constitution to replace the term “secularism” with “absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah”, signalling a move towards incorporating Islamic principles into state affairs.

This is important to highlight as both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia inherited these ideological patterns and continue to follow them.

BEGINNING OF POLITICAL RIVALRY

However, it is not just ideology which is the reason for their enmity. Both leaders have accused each other’s political parties of having a role in the assassinations in their respective families.

On August 15, 1975, six mid-level officers of the Bangladesh Army along with a few hundred soldiers assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. His entire family was killed along with him, except for his two daughters — Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana — who were in Germany.

While there is no evidence that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the coup, he benefited from Mujib’s assassination. From Chief of Army Staff to President, Ziaur Rahman climbed the ladder within two years of Mujib’s assassination.

Moreover, he did not take steps to bring Mujib’s assassins to justice during his tenure. In fact, his government provided immunity to the assassins through an indemnity ordinance, which was later repealed by Sheikh Hasina in 1996.

Khaleda Zia, on the other hand, had accused Awami League members of having a role in the assassination of her husband. She was widely seen as a shy wife and devoted mother until Ziaur Rahman’s assassination in an attempted army coup in 1981.

She also argues that Ziaur Rahman’s role in securing independence from Pakistan is ignored by the Awami League.

UNITED AGAINST A COMMON FOE

A year after Ziaur Rahman’s assassination, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad took control of Bangladesh as the Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) in a bloodless coup. Ershad was a pro-Islamic ruler who made Islam the national religion of Bangladesh.

At the time, Sheikh Hasina was the leader of the Awami League while Khaleda Zia was leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Both women had to take the respective responsibilities on parties’ demands after the assassinations in their families.

In 1986, Hussain Muhammad Ershad conducted a presidential election, the first under the military regime. The election was boycotted by the BNP, citing a lack of a fair and free electoral environment.

The Awami League did participate in the election but lost. Ershad’s Jatiya (People’s) Party won a large majority, securing 153 of the 300 seats, while the Awami League won 76 seats.

Opposition parties and independent observers claimed that the government manipulated the results to ensure a victory for the Jatiya Party.

Even as opposition parties refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Ershad regime, he did not step down. This led to mass demonstrations demanding his removal in 1987.

SIEGE OF DHAKA

Ershad’s strengthening rule forced Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to shake hands. The two women leaders, who did not even like to come face-to-face, met on October 28, 1987 to coordinate efforts to put more pressure on the Ershad regime.

A series of events were planned in protest against Ershad, and the action was called the ‘Siege of Dhaka’.

As part of the movement, opposition parties planned strikes across Dhaka, aiming to put pressure on Ershad to step down. However, a 72-hour-strike plan was foiled by Ershad, who declared an emergency on November 27, 1987, which resulted in the arrest of Hasina, Khaleda Zia, and other main opposition leaders.

Ershad also ordered police to detain protesters in Dhaka and imposed a 30-hour curfew at midnight.

The Opposition found itself in a weak spot, with Ershad’s regime still standing tall and the President announcing he would complete his term.

However, the Opposition launched another round of protests in October 1990, bolstered by the support of civil society members like doctors, lawyers, and intellectuals.

After the shutting of universities, declaration of another emergency and the imposition of an indefinite curfew in Dhaka, Ershad finally announced on December 3, 1990 that he was willing to make concessions to the Opposition.

A day later, his proposal was rejected by the Opposition and over one lakh people marched on the streets of Dhaka.

Ershad agreed to step down on the same day, making Hasina and Zia’s resistance against him successful.

The unity between the two leaders was crucial in bringing about the downfall of Ershad. It led to the establishment of a caretaker government, which oversaw the transition to parliamentary democracy and the holding of elections in 1991.

BACK TO BEING BITTER

Even though their show of strength against Ershad was a defining moment in Bangladesh’s political history, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia’s unity was short-lived.

The 1991 elections saw the BNP rise to power in the country, and Khaleda Zia became the first woman prime minister of Bangladesh. She replaced the presidential system with a parliamentary form of government where the power rested with the prime minister.

The BNP and the Awami League have been at loggerheads since then, alternatively ruling the country.

Khaleda Zia lost to Hasina in a 1996 election, then returned to power in another election five years later.

Their enmity continued, which was borderline petty. After Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, she launched a massive crackdown against the BNP leaders. Zia, too, faced several criminal charges and was jailed in 2018 after she was sentenced to 17 years in prison in a graft case.

However, Zia also tried to portray herself as the peacemaker between the two. In an interview with Time Magazine in 2006, she said, “It’s not mutual. I want to be friends. I’d be very happy to meet her… We have to (work) together (to) resolve problems. I wrote a letter, but she did not receive it. If she really wants to cooperate, tell her she can come. But if she does not want to, I cannot help.”

Sheikh Hasina was more adamant. “Why should I collaborate with those who have the stink of corruption all over them? As it is we are being bracketed with these corrupt, power-hungry people. Why should we take responsibility for them?” she told Bangladesh’s New Age newspaper in May 2007.

In 2015, Khaleda Zia courted controversy after she celebrated her fake birthday on August 15, the day Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975. A case was also registered against her.

HASINA’s OUSTER, ZIA’s RETURN

The decades-old ‘Battle of Begums’ saw a new twist on August 6 this year as Khaleda Zia was freed from jail.

This happened after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister on August 5 and fled Bangladesh with her sister Sheikh Rehana. Her resignation came amid student protests against a quota for government jobs. Her residence was attacked and protesters looted her belongings from there.

A day after her resignation, Khaleda Zia was freed from jail. However, the 78-year-old BNP leader is recovering from multiple ailments and may not return as prime minister.

The political career of Sheikh Hasina is also in twilight. At 76, she may find it difficult to return to Bangladesh and reclaim power amid strong public sentiment against her. This is despite her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy claiming that she will return to Bangladesh and revive the Awami League once the situation improves.

In all likelihood, the ‘Battle of Begums’ will never again be fought on the political fields of Bangladesh. But their rivalry will remain a defining feature of the country’s politics in the years to come.

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