Khaleda Zia: a constant in India’s changing neighbourhood

Apart from deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia was the only Prime Minister from Bangladesh whose political and institutional interactions with the Indian leadership stretched back to the 1970s and continued till the 21st century. Begum Zia, as she was known to the people of Bangladesh, started her public life as the spouse of then President of Bangladesh General Ziaur Rahman, and she was a witness to the diplomacy between India and Bangladesh during a difficult period in the 1970s.

Khaleda first found mention in Indian diplomatic records when Prime Minister Morarji Desai acknowledged her presence during a banquet in Dhaka during his visit to Bangladesh on April 16, 1979. It was a visit that took place during a rough patch in bilateral relations. Just three and half years ago, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in Dhaka along with most of his family members and Indira Gandhi, a well-wisher of Mujib, was out of power after being overthrown in the 1977 election. Earlier, President Nilam Sanjiva Reddy had held a banquet for President Zia on December 19, 1977, when he visited Delhi (without Khaleda) and was welcomed at the New Delhi airport by Prime Minister Desai.

The Rahmans were met by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when they became the first foreign guests that Mrs. Gandhi met after being sworn into office for her last term in office in January 1980. The high-level visits between the two sides came at a sensitive period during 1977-1980 as Sheikh Hasina, one of the two surviving children of the slain Mujib, was based in India during this time. As relations improved between the two sides after President Rahman’s meeting with Mrs. Gandhi, Ms. Hasina returned to Bangladesh on May 17, 1981.

On May 30, 1981, President Rahman was assassinated in a failed military coup while he was on a visit to Chittagong. Hearing of the violent death, Mrs. Gandhi said, “The shocking assassination of President Ziaur Rahman shows the instability which many developing countries are facing. We in India are vigilant and shall take all necessary steps to safeguard our interests.”

In the first six months of 1991, the subcontinent witnessed several shockers. On April 29, Bangladesh was hit by one of the most destructive cyclones in history of the region and then on May 21, as India was getting ready for the election, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. But prior to these developments, on March 20, Khaleda took charge as the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Earlier, on March 7, 1991, the Ministry of External Affairs had said, “Any government in Bangladesh as much as any government in India, realises the importance of good relations between the two neighbours. We had welcomed the return of democracy, when the results of the elections were announced a few days ago, and expressed our hope and intention to work with Bangladesh, to strengthen our bilateral relations, based on our mutual national interests.”

India, like Bangladesh, was witnessing transition and the outreach therefore was aimed at ensuring a working relationship with Prime Minister Khaleda. In the last week of May 1992, Khaleda was hosted by Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. She made it clear that SAARC, which was a dream project of her late husband, was close to her heart.

Next year, during April 10-11, 1993, Rao visited Dhaka when Khaleda hosted the seventh SAARC summit and welcomed apart from the Indian Prime Minister, King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuck, President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and the Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. What made this outreach significant was that India and Bangladesh tried to put relations back on track after the regional tension spiked because of the demolition of Babri Masjid by Hindu karsevaks in Ayodhya. Despite the tension, Rao-Zia ties were maintained during this time and next year when a cyclone hit Bangladesh, India reached out with relief like it did soon after Khaleda had taken charge in March 1991.

In her second full-fledged term during 2001-2006, the Gujarat riots of 2002 cast a shadow on bilateral ties and that apart, India’s concerns on terrorism and insurgency did not attract sufficient attention from Bangladesh. Yet, before onset of political uncertainty in the winter of 2006, Khaleda visited India and held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and signed a revised trade pact. Prior to that, she had hosted the 13th SAARC summit in November 2005. Her last visit to India took place during October 28-November 3, 2012, when she was the leader of opposition in the Jatiya Sansad. She met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna before visiting Ajmer Sharif. She started that trip by meeting her counterpart, then Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj. Her last noted interaction with the Indian leadership was in June 2015 when she came to Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka where Prime Minister Narendra Modi met several Bangladeshi political leaders after the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement was sealed.