Party men, not Khaleda, celebrate her birthday on Aug 15

It is the BNP leaders and activists, not its chief Khaleda Zia, who celebrate her birthday on August 15 that "coincides" with National Mourning Day, the party said yesterday.

"BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia herself doesn't celebrate her birthday (on August 15)," BNP Spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon told a briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

"Celebrating a birthday is someone's very personal matter. None should suggest anyone whether they should celebrate their birthday," he said, when his attention was drawn to Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam's request to Khaleda not to celebrate her birthday on August 15.

AL leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been calling upon Khaleda to refrain from celebrating her birthday on August 15 as the nation mourns on that day the brutal killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members.Pointing to the AL leader's urge, the BNP spokesperson said there was nothing wrong in making any appeal. "But if they try to say anything about the BNP chairperson's birth date we have objection to it."

Khaleda Zia was born in 1946, but her date of birth remains a matter of debate.

Party insiders told The Daily Star that the BNP first started observing her birthday with festivity on August 15 in 1991, the year it came to power after the fall of autocratic ruler HM Ershad. 

The party and associate bodies have been observing Khaleda's birthday on August 15 since then despite sharp criticism from the AL.

Many including the AL claim that her birthday is September 5, 1945 as per her marriage certificate and August 19, 1946 as per her first passport. Khaleda herself put August 9, 1944 as her birth date while registering for the matriculation examinations, they say.