Amidst controversy and criticism centred over her birthday celebrations, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia has decided not to officially observe the day this year by cutting a cake in the early hours of Monday, according to sources in her Gulshan office. “The chairperson has decided not to cut a cake to mark her birthday in view of the plight of the flood-affected people and party leaders and activists suffering imprisonment, oppression and false cases,” said a source. The party, however, did not officially announce the decision. The chairperson has also asked party leaders and activists not to celebrate her birthday anywhere in the country on August 15, which coincides with the National Mourning Day that commemorates the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the members of his extended family in 1975. The former premier also asked party leaders and activists not to visit her Gulshan office with flowers and bouquets to greet her on this day, said the sources. They maintained that she had taken the decision in view of the prevailing crises and the flood situation in the
country. When contacted, BNP joint secretary general Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal said the chairperson’s birthday would be celebrated, but not by cutting a cake at her Gulshan office. “The chairperson is not keen to celebrate the day with pomp and fanfare by cutting a cake at her office. She also does not consider it proper to celebrate her birthday in the aftermath of floods and against the backdrop of the prevailing instability in the country,” he said.  Leaders of the ruling party had asked the BNP chairperson not to celebrate her birthday on the day of the Bangabandhu’s assassination.
Khaleda Zia had not cut a birthday cake in the early hours of August 15 last year but did so at her party office at 9pm and her Gulshan office was illuminated to mark the day. The BNP chairperson began celebrating her birthday since August 15, 1993, after being elected Bangladesh’s prime minister in the 1991 national election. But she made the celebration formal after her party lost power in 2006 and went on to occupy the Opposition benches in parliament. The then Opposition leader began celebrating of her birthday with party leaders and activists at her official Mintoo Road residence on August 15, 2006. According to her bio-data sent to the media after her election as prime minister, Khaleda Zia was born in Dinajpur on August 19, 1945. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her telephonic conversation with BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on October 26, had questioned her decision to celebrate her birthday on August 15. Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League president Bangabir Kader Siddique, during a meeting with the BNP chairperson on August 4, requested her not to celebrate the day on August 15.