After a long time in the shadow of his parents’ huge inheritance and nearly two decades in London’s political wilderness after he was forced out of Dhaka on serious corruption charges, Tariq Rahman has finally stepped into the center of the Bangladeshi stage.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairman Tariq Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, shakes hands with an excited supporter at an election rally in Dhaka. (Anupam Nath/AP Photo)At 60, the nation of 170 million people is set to become the next prime minister after a landslide victory in the first parliamentary elections since ousting Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairman Sheikh Hasina, who is now in self-imposed exile in India.
His ascension marks a dramatic turnaround for a man once described by US diplomats as “the epitome of kleptocratic government” and a “flawed successor”.
Today, as he prepares to lead a country still reeling from the 2024 student-led uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year “iron-fisted” rule, the question remains: Is Rahman the face of a reformed, democratic Bangladesh, or a new chapter in a decades-long dynastic rivalry?
Rahman’s return to Bangladesh on December 25, 2025 was nothing short of cinematic.
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After 17 years in self-imposed exile, he brought his ginger cat Zebu (commonly called ‘Zebu’ by Bengali speakers) to Dhaka, whose picture quickly went viral on social media. The cat now has several Facebook pages named after it.
The joy at the homecoming was largely overshadowed by the death of his mother, three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who died aged 80 just a week after her return.
Speaking from his office beneath a gold-framed portrait of his late parents, Rahman described the “mixed feelings” of the moment. “This is my country, I was born here, I grew up here – so naturally, it was a very happy feeling,” he told reporters. He lamented the loss of the chance to see his mother one last time: “When you come home after so long, any boy wants to hug his mother … I didn’t have that chance.”
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Rahman then assumed the presidency of the BNP on January 9, 2026 and plunged into an election campaign focused on overcoming the bitterness of the Hasina era.
A bloody legacy of blood and power gamesRahman’s life is defined by the blood-soaked history of Bangladeshi politics.
Born in 1965, he was in his mid-teens when his father, President Ziaur Rahman, hero of the 1971 liberation war and founder of the BNP, was killed in a 1981 coup attempt.
During the 1971 war that turned a poorer-cousin East Pakistan into an independent Bangladesh, Tariq Rahman was briefly detained as a child, an experience that led his team to hail him as “one of the youngest prisoners of war”.
His father, Ziaur Rahman, a military officer, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is widely regarded as the founding father of Bangladesh, came to political power in 1975 a few years after he was assassinated by some military personnel during his autocratic turn.
Which brought Mujibur Rahman’s daughter Sheikh Hasina into politics. Khaleda Zia entered politics after the murder of her husband Ziaur Rahman in the eighties.
Tareq, who often uses the surname Zia, grew up in the political orbit of his mother Khaleda Zia as she engaged in a decade-long, bitter power struggle with Sheikh Hasina.
A young Rahman started his political career as an early member of BNP in Bogra in 1988. He rose to prominence during his mother’s 2001–2006 tenure as prime minister, a period that ultimately led to her downfall and exile.
Years of controversy over ‘Khamba Tarek’To his critics, Tariq Rahman was once known as the ‘Dark Prince’ or “Khamba Tarek”, the latter a derogatory nickname that arose from allegations of large-scale corruption in the electricity sector in which electric poles (“khambas”) were procured at inflated prices.
The BNP office under him is often accused of acting as a parallel power center where government contracts are influenced by bribes.
US embassy diplomatic cables from 2006–09, released by WikiLeaks, noted that Rahman “inspires a few but annoys many”, characterizing him as “incredibly corrupt”.
In 2007, during an anti-corruption crackdown by the military-backed caretaker government, Rahman was arrested and, on his own , on account of torture in custody. Facing multiple charges, including money laundering and a life sentence in connection with a 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, he moved to London in 2008 vowing not to get involved in politics.
From London, Rahman took over as senior vice-chairman and later acting chairman of the BNP following his mother’s imprisonment during the Hasina regime in 2018. For years, he dismissed legal cases against him as “politically motivated false allegations”.
Image Botox for the same old faceThe fall of Sheikh Hasina in July–August 2024 after student-led protests opened the door to Tariq Rahman’s legal and political comeback.
In late 2024 and early 2025, Bangladeshi courts, citing procedural irregularities and lack of evidence, began upholding his convictions. Most notably, he was acquitted of a life sentence in the 2004 grenade attack case and acquitted of money laundering charges.
Older and on the brink of power, he has since struck a remarkably conciliatory tone, perhaps knowing that the Gen-Z voters leading the 2024 revolt are tired of dynastic corruption. In his party’s ‘Bangladesh First’ manifesto, Rahman promised an era of “clean politics”.
“The BNP believes in the politics of justice and humanity, not revenge,” Rahman said ahead of the February 12 election. “People’s rights, not power, are at the core of our politics. Production, not plunder; rights, not fear; justice, not discrimination – these principles will govern the governance of the state,” he said.
In an interview with AFP, he even offered a rare, if vague, apology for the past: “If there was a mistake that was unintended, we’re sorry for that.”
Regarding his parents’ legacy, he was diplomatically distant: “They are them, I am me… I will try to do better than them.”
Ahead is the task of maintaining the geopolitical balanceTariq Rahman also inherits a complex diplomatic landscape. India, which has maintained a policy close to Hasina for 15 years, has been forced to re-establish ties with the BNP. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has already met Rahman in Dhaka, handed him a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed optimism for a “new chapter” in relations.
However, the Rahman-led BNP has indicated that it will not give “privileged status” to any neighbor instead of “equality, fairness, pragmatism and mutual interest”.
While India remains an essential partner due to geography, Tariq Rahman’s government could diversify its allies, especially given China’s significant infrastructure investment and recent thawing of relations with Pakistan.
Back to democracy with Tarek and beyondThe new prime minister will lead a country where nearly 44% of voters are under the age of 37.
The 2026 election also saw a referendum to introduce a 10-year cap on prime ministerial terms, a reform aimed at preventing the kind of authoritarianism that defined the Hasina years.
Analysts say whether Tariq Rahman will adhere to this spirit of reform or return to the “tribe-driven politics” of the past is a central tension in his upcoming prime ministership.
(with input from AFP)
