434 km away from Dhaka, Jalpaiguri mourns its daughter
Times of India | 31 December 2025
Jalpaiguri: As former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia breathed her last on Tuesday, grief 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 1945 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 their 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 the Nayabasti area, where she studied up to class 3, and was then admitted to the Sunitibala Sadar Girls' School in Samaj Para," Sharma said. "But by then most of their relatives moved to East Pakistan, and Zia's father migrated there," he added.
Sharma further noted that 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 stays at the house at Nayabasti," said Sharma.
Those who remember her family recall the emotional ties that endured long after her departure. "Siyon Mandal, who later became a teacher at Sishu Niketan Prathamik Bidyalaya, was her best friend during her primary school days. I still 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 the now-defunct Das & Co. Neighbours, too, spoke of a bond that survived borders and decades.
"Zia's relatives often visited Jalpaiguri to see her residence. All of them would board at my house. Her niece came only a couple of months ago to see Zia's birthplace. We often talked about how good it would have been if the country was never partitioned. Although I never saw Zia in person, I can still relate to her. Her loss is mourned by people in Bangladesh as well as here," said Suhrid Mandal, Zia's Jalpaiguri neighbour. "I learnt that Khaleda was a student here. We are planning to hold a condolence once the classes resume," said Arup Dey, primary section headmaster of Sunitibala Sadar Girls' School.