Representatives of Bangladesh’s Zia Centre for Policy and Research visited the locked Jalpaiguri house where former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia spent part of her childhood, signalling a possible cross-border effort to preserve the property as a site of historical memory.
The representatives visited the house in the Nayabasti area of Jalpaiguri on Thursday. The property is currently owned by the Chakrabarty family, which no longer lives there, according to a report by Sangbad Pratidin – Bengal. The house was viewed from outside because it remained locked.
Pradipchandra Saha, secretary of the Zia Centre for Policy and Research, said the organisation was documenting locations outside Bangladesh associated with Khaleda Zia’s life. He said he would return to Bangladesh and submit a report on the Jalpaiguri property.
According to the report, the Bangladesh government is interested in preserving the house. The centre intends to discuss the matter with the Indian government and explore whether the property can be conserved. No formal agreement, acquisition decision, heritage notification or restoration plan has been announced in the supplied report.
Khaleda Zia’s family is associated with Jalpaiguri’s Nayabasti neighbourhood, where she reportedly spent several years with her father, Mohammad Iskander. He worked at Dash and Company near Thana More in Jalpaiguri. Khaleda Zia studied at Suniti Bala Sadar Girls’ School and was known locally by the name Beauty, the report said.
Her family left the Teesta-side neighbourhood after Partition in 1947, moving across the border following a property exchange. She later entered public life in Bangladesh and rose from the leadership of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to become the country’s prime minister. Residents of Jalpaiguri have continued to regard her as a daughter of the city, and local people reportedly mourned her death.
The proposed preservation effort highlights the administrative complexity of protecting privately owned properties connected with political and social history. Any formal conservation process would require clarity on ownership, access, legal permissions, financial responsibility and the roles of Indian and Bangladeshi authorities. The supplied report does not establish whether either government has initiated those processes.
Older residents of Nayabasti retain memories of the Zia family’s presence in the neighbourhood. Local resident Kalidas Sarkar and others have welcomed the prospect of preserving the house. The next stated step is for the Zia Centre for Policy and Research to submit its report after the visit and pursue discussions with the relevant authorities.
