PM Modi Sends Message, BNP Says Stable: Khaleda Zia's Health Under Focus

Last Updated:December 02, 2025, 09:48 IST

The BNP seems to want to prevent panic among party cadres as well as maintain a bargaining leverage in the domestic political arena

Activists in support of Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia, hold a banner with her portrait as they pray for her recovery in Dhaka. (AFP)

Amid swirling speculation over the health of former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, the BNP on Monday attempted to project a calmer picture. But the messaging emerging from her family, medical team and even New Delhi paints a far more precarious scenario.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka that the 80-year-old party chief’s condition was “stable" and that treatment was continuing under “close observation". The statement came as the first organised attempt by the top BNP leadership to counter the rising chatter in Bangladesh’s media and political circles that Zia’s health has deteriorated sharply.

Alamgir’s statement came at around 3.30pm on Monday, which was also after a panic button was pressed by a section of his party leadership. At around 1.45pm, BNP vice-chairman Ahmed Aazam Khan came out of hospital, and said Zia is in a “very critical condition". “Since last night, madam has gone into a very critical condition. She is fighting to return to us," he announced. Islam’s ‘stable’ assertion within one-and-a-half hours was a 180-degree turnaround within the BNP, making its stand increasingly difficult to sustain.

Family Describes Condition As “Very Critical"

Even as the party sought to reassure supporters, Khaleda Zia’s family members have been widely quoted in leading Bangladeshi dailies, describing her condition as “very critical". This gap between the family’s alarm and the party’s controlled narrative has raised questions about what BNP seeks to manage: public anxiety, internal morale or political optics ahead of a tense domestic environment.

No wonder Alamgir cautioned on Monday: “Various media outlets are publishing news about her that is not correct. No one should be confused by this."

Adding to the contradictions, Zia’s long-time personal physician Dr AZM Zahid Hossain confirmed that the former prime minister remains in the ICU of Evercare Hospital, where she was admitted with a lung infection. Beyond the immediate infection, Zia carries a long record of chronic ailments—including heart complications, liver and kidney disorders, diabetes, arthritis and eye-related illnesses—placing her in a high-risk category.

For a figure already frail from multiple episodes of hospitalisation over the past few years, the term “stable" appears medically ambiguous.

Modi’s Tweet Undercuts BNP’s Messaging

Complicating the BNP’s narrative further was a tweet from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he was “deeply concerned" about Khaleda Zia’s condition and offered “all possible support" to help save the former Bangladeshi leader.

Even though Delhi and the BNP have had a historically uneasy relationship, PM Modi’s public expression of concern—and the open offer of “all possible support" including medical assistance—has been read in Dhaka as a subtle acknowledgement that Zia’s condition is grave. Diplomatically, India rarely makes such statements unless assessments indicate a serious situation.

For the BNP, this puts its communication strategy under stress. A narrative of stability becomes harder to hold when the leader of the region’s largest country signals that the situation warrants external medical intervention.

Why The Mixed Messaging?

The BNP’s positioning seems shaped by at least two factors.

First of all, preventing panic among party cadres at a time when the organisation has been struggling for political momentum after the January polls must have been the party’s primary goal.

Secondly, maintaining a bargaining leverage in the domestic political arena, where Zia’s health has often been intertwined with BNP’s demands for parole, foreign treatment or political concessions has been key.

A Moment With Political Stakes

With Bangladesh’s political environment already polarised, the health of Khaleda Zia, who ruled Bangladesh first from 1991 to 1996 and then from 2001 to 2006, carries both emotional and strategic weight. For BNP supporters, she remains the party’s symbolic anchor.

As things stand, the medical picture suggests fragility, the BNP’s messaging suggests caution, and India’s intervention suggests urgency.

If anything, the last 24 hours underscore a fundamental reality—the political narrative around Khaleda Zia’s health is shifting faster than the BNP’s communications machinery can control.

News world PM Modi Sends Message, BNP Says Stable: Khaleda Zia's Health Under Focus

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