Khaleda Zia turns ‘73’ today
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia turns '73' today, Tuesday.
As in last year, the party has no scheduled programme to celebrate the 'birthday of its chief, now in London. The party celebrated her 72nd birthday last year through holding a doa mahfil instead of cutting any cake.
Contacted, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, "We didn't chalk out any programme to celebrate our chairperson's birthday as she has been staying in London for receiving medical treatment."
He said their party's associate bodies can arrange doa mahfil on the occasion seeking her early recovery.
On 15 July, Khaleda went to London for receiving medical treatment and spending time with her family members there.
The BNP chief underwent the surgery for cataract in her right eye at Moorfields Eye Hospital last week. She may return home after celebrating Eid-ul-Azha with her family members in London.
Rizvi said Khaleda has been staying at the residence of her eldest son and party senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman. "She's recuperating from her eye surgery; the bandage is still there."
The National Mourning Day is being observed today, Tuesday, commemorating the assassinations of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on 15 August 1975.
Khaleda was born in 1945. But, there are debates about her actual date of birth and even the birth year.
Various records suggest Khaleda Zia was born in 1945 and she will turn 73 on Tuesday. But her party claimed in 2015 that her actual birth year is 1946. She also registered her birth year 1946 in her new passport.
According to Banglapedia and well-known encyclopedias Wikipedia and Britannica Khaleda was born to Iskandar Majumder, a businessman, and Taiyaba Majumder in Dinajpur district in 1945.
The biodata of Khaleda Zia submitted to parliament secretariat when she was made the opposition leader last suggests that she was born on 15 August 1945.
The controversy over the birthday began in 1991 when Khaleda first celebrated it on 15 August after assuming office as prime minister and declared it as her 'official birthday'.
Awami League leaders have long been claiming that her birthday is 5 September 1945 as per her marriage certificate while 19 August 1946 as per her first passport. Khaleda herself put the date as 9 August 1944 while registering for her matriculation exams, they said.
Amid the ruling party's criticism for celebrating her birthday on the National Mourning Day, BNP last year decided not to cut any cake at the wee hours of 15 August showing a reason that the country was in a serious crisis and many flood victims were going through immense sufferings.
Last year, she, however, cut cakes at night the following day and party leaders and activists also celebrated it on their own.