Border bonds: Jalpaiguri mourns its daughter Khaleda Zia; Bangladesh's first woman PM was born in West Bengal town

JALPAIGURI: Grief over former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia's death on Tuesday travelled well beyond Dhaka, reaching Jalpaiguri, a north Bengal town nearly 434 km away, where memories of her early life still lingered. For the people here, it was a loss of one of their own.

Khaleda Zia was born in Jalpaiguri in 1946 and spent her early life in the town, attending two primary schools before her family eventually moved to what was then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.




"Zia's father, Mohammad Iskandar, used to work as an agent at my father's tea trading firm, Das & Co. Khaleda Zia was born at their Nayabasti house in the town. Even after Partition, her family continued to reside in Jalpaiguri, and family moved to erstwhile East Pakistan only in the 1950s," recounted Jalpaiguri resident and businessman Nilanjan Dasgupta.

According to Jalpaiguri-based historian Umesh Sharma, Zia's early education began in the town. "Zia was sent to Jogmaya Primary School in Nayabasti, where she studied up to Class III, and was then admitted to Sunitibala Sadar Girls' School in Samaj Para," he said. "By then most of their relatives moved to East Pakistan, and Zia's father migrated there," Sharma added.

Sharma said the family's departure followed a formal exchange of property. "Iskandar went for a property exchange with one Amarendranath Chakraborty and moved to East Pakistan. Chakraborty's family still lives in the house at Nayabasti," he said.

Those who remember her family recall the emotional ties that endured long after her departure. "Siyon Mandal, who became a teacher at Sishu Niketan Prathamik Bidyalaya, was her best friend during primary school days. I remember how Siyondi was elated when Zia came to office in Bangladesh. The news of her demise has left people who knew her sorry," said Dasgupta, a former proprietor of now-defunct Das & Co.

Neighbours, too, spoke of a bond that survived borders and decades. "Zia's niece came only a couple of months ago to see Zia's birthplace. We talked about how good it would have been if the country was never partitioned. Her loss is mourned by people in Bangladesh as well as here," said Suhrid Mandal, Zia's Jalpaiguri neighbour.
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