News Flash
By Rumana Zaman
DHAKA, Mar 30, 2026 (BSS) – Recalling former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia with deep respect, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the shadow of late leader Begum Khaleda Zia’s affection is the “biggest achievement” in his life.
“I feel her (Begum Khaleda Zia) every moment. I worked with Deshnetri for a long time in my life. She kept me safe for years under the shadow of her compassion and affection. This is the biggest achievement in my life,” he said in a recent interview with Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) at Bangladesh Secretariat here.
Fakhrul, also minister for local government, rural development (LGRD) and cooperatives, said Begum Zia had picked up him from a very ordinary field worker and gave him important responsibilities of the party.
“While performing the party’s responsibilities with the leader, I felt she (Khaleda Zia) had blessing eyes for me. While walking the path with her blessings and trust, I saw that she had always shown me the right path so that I do not go off the rails. Even if I made a mistake beyond my knowledge, the leader would have forgiven me and corrected me,” he said.
Mirza Fakhrul, a trusted colleague of Begum Khaleda Zia in her political life, said he had tried to implement Begum Khaleda Zia’s thoughts and tried to work in the way she wanted to take the BNP forward.
In an emotional voice, he noted that he was with Begum Zia in the hospital almost every day during the last moments of her life and he was lucky to be in touch with such a great leader during the last moments of her life.
“However, the time when she was in the hospital before her death was very painful for me. My heart would sometimes clench with pain. Still, I waited day after day with a certain amount of faith in my heart, thinking that the Deshnetri would recover and return to us,” he said.
Mirza Fakhrul said, “None can be compared to Begum Zia. Her comparison is not possible too.”
Highlighting her popularity, he said millions of people joined her namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers) and it felt as if the earth had opened up and everyone had gathered in one place with a great pull and it was completely deserted and silent.
“When the janaza was being held, doa was being offered for her, there was 'pin-drop silence'. It was unbelievable…a strange silence. I feel like it was a God-given thing. It was undoubtedly a divine thing,” he said.
Asked how BNP feels about being in power after overcoming a long ups-and-downs, the BNP secretary general smiled softly and said it is difficult to describe this feeling in one word because, after a long and difficult struggle, leaving history behind, this power assumed with people’s mandate and love has a challenge too.
“It was a struggle of almost 18 years. In this struggle, countless of our colleagues have given their lives. False cases were filed against 60 lakh people. Many of our senior leaders, including Ilias Ali and Chowdhury Alam, were victims of enforced disappearance. Our top leader Begum Khaleda Zia was unjustly kept in prison for almost two years and then put under 'house arrest' when she was sick. Our leader Tarique Rahman was exiled for many years. It was not easy to face the issues.”
Fakhrul said after this long struggle, today BNP is now running the state with the support of the people. “Our leader, Deshnetri Khaleda Zia, has already left us. Our leader Tarique Rahman has returned home. Many events. So what can be said is that there are both joy and pain. It is very difficult to express the feeling in one word,” he added.
Stating that the future journey of BNP will be pro-people, he said, “From the beginning, we have reached this place by struggling for democracy along with the people. So, protecting democracy is our biggest responsibility in the coming days. Let us protect the dignity. Our leader Begum Khaleda Zia has sacrificed for the country’s people.
The efforts will continue so that we can fulfill the expectations of the people.”
He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is actually a workaholic while they have seen in the past that he was not directly involved in politics. After BNP formed the government in 2001, he held party councils, from the grassroots, at the union level in 2007. “I still remember that the first council was held in my district Thakurgaon. The time was December, bitterly cold. In the meantime, our leader was running from one district to another. Since then, I have noticed that he has no tiredness in work,” he added.
Fakhrul said later, when Tarique Rahman was exiled, senior party leaders stayed in the country and Begum Zia was in jail. Tarique Rahman then took charge of the party from afar and he continued to lead the party relentlessly.
“At that time, he kept in touch with us constantly. It can be said that he was always digitally in touch with us. He used to communicate digitally with the leaders and activists of BNP affiliated organisations in every area. That continuity is still going on. Discussions have already started in various quarters that after many years, the people of this country have got a different kind of Prime Minister who is running the state from the position of the commoners,” he said.
Fakhrul said he has a very strong belief that Tarique Rahman will take a place in the hearts of the people like his father, Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and mother Begum Khaleda Zia, and he will be able to make a big contribution for the welfare of the country.
About his ministry, he said: “The perspective with which we have started working from the beginning is that we will stop corruption as much as we can. And for this reason, we have already taken many measures. For example, we have removed the managing director of WASA (Dhaka). Within a month, some more engineers of the local government have been suspended on graft allegations.”
The LGRD minister said he is trying to make this ministry corruption-free. “The time has not yet come when we will be able to reach the point of taking definitely strong measures against any corruption.
We will try our best to take very strong measures against any graft,” he added.
