BNP chairperson and ex-premier Khaleda Zia's condition 'extremely critical': Alamgir
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia's health condition is "extremely critical", a close aide said on Friday.
The 80-year-old former premier was admitted to a hospital on Sunday night when she developed a chest infection that affected both her heart and lungs.
"Last night, the doctors said that her physical condition is extremely critical," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted as saying by the state-run BSS news agency.
The BNP organised special prayers after the Friday prayers for the speedy recovery of the party's chairperson.
"We have sought prayers from the people across the country after Jummah prayers for the recovery of the 'Mother of Democracy', Begum Khaleda Zia. We pray that she may recover and return to the people to get the opportunity to work for the country," Fakhrul added.
Zia, the wife of slain Bangladesh president Zia-ur Rahman, has been suffering from multiple health complications, including liver and kidney issues, diabetes, arthritis, and eye-related illnesses.
Her only son and BNP's acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, has been living in London since 2008. Her other son, Arafat Rahman, died of a cardiac arrest in 2025.
BNP has emerged as the frontrunner in Bangladesh's changed political landscape after a student-led violent street protest toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.
Earlier in the year, Zia returned to the country from London on May 6 after spending four months for advanced medical treatment.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
