In early December, 48-year-old Tipu Sultan, a grassroots activist of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), stood outside Dhaka’s Evercare Hospital holding a placard that read, “I want to donate my kidney to Begum Khaleda Zia”.A video of Sultan and the placard went viral in Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people that has been on edge since Khaleda, the BNP chairperson and former prime minister, was admitted to hospital on November 23. Tipu has since spent his days on the pavement opposite the hospital gate, promising to stay put until he receives news of her recovery.“She is like my mother. She sacrificed everything for democracy,” he told Al Jazeera. “My only prayer is that God allows her to see the upcoming election,” he added, referring to the national elections scheduled for February 12.But it was not to be. Early in the morning, on December 30, the 80-year-old Khaleda passed away in hospital, her party announced.“Our beloved national leader is no longer with us. She left us at 6am today,” the BNP said in the statement posted on Facebook.With her archrival and fellow former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, now in exile in India, Khaleda’s death closes a more than three-decade-long chapter when the two leaders – who came to be …
