(b. 1947), Bangladesh prime minister. Sheikh Hasina Wajid, the elder daughter of former Bangladesh president and prime minister Shiekh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib) (1921–1975), was born 28 September 1947 at the family's home in Tungipara, Gopalganj district. She had been generally uninterested in politics and was absent from Bangladesh when Mujib and many of his family were assassinated on 15 August 1975. However, when political activity was fully revived following the 1979 parliamentary election in which her father's Awami League fared badly, the party was left without a strong and well-known leader. Hasina was called back to Bangladesh and assumed leadership of the party on 17 May 1981. She opposed the Hussain Muhammad Ershad (b. 1930) regime, and she participated in the 1986 election, leading the Awami League. Despite a strong rivalry with Khaleda Zia (b. 1945) of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Hasina joined hands with Zia in a movement that led to Ershad's fall in December 1990. Following the February 1991 election, the Awami League became the principal opposition, a position from which the party and Hasina harassed the BNP government. In June 1996, the Awami League, in coalition with Ershad's Jatiya Party, formed a government, and Hasina became prime minister. Ershad himself left the coalition, but a faction of the Jatiya Party remains in Hasina's government. The lack of cooperation between the government and the opposition since the restoration of parliamentary government has hindered political development in Bangladesh.
Further Reading
Ahmed, Moudud. (1995) Democracy and the Challenge of Development: Study of Politics and Military Intervention in Bangladesh. New Delhi: Vikas.
Baxter, Craig. (1997) Bangladesh from a Nation to a State. Boulder, CO: Westview.
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