The Most Famous

POLITICIANS from Bangladesh

This page contains a list of the greatest Bangladeshi Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 24 of which were born in Bangladesh. This makes Bangladesh the birth place of the 95th most number of Politicians behind Myanmar (Burma), and Slovenia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Bangladeshi Politicians of all time. This list of famous Bangladeshi Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Bangladeshi Politicians.

1. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920 - 1975)

With an HPI of 66.95, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 80 different languages on wikipedia.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist, who was the founding leader of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he had held continuous positions either as Bangladesh's president or as its prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. His nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are collectively known as Mujibism. Born in an aristocratic Muslim family in Tungipara, Mujib emerged as a student activist in the province of Bengal during the final years of the British Raj. He was a member of the All India Muslim League. He supported Muslim nationalism and had a Pakistani establishmentalist outlook in his early political career. In 1949, he was part of a liberal, secular and left-wing faction which later became the Awami League. In the 1950s, he was elected to Pakistan's parliament where he defended the rights of East Bengal. Mujib served 13 years in prison during the British Raj and Pakistani rule. By the 1960s, Mujib adopted Bengali nationalism and became the undisputed leader of East Pakistan soon. He became popular for opposing political, ethnic and institutional discrimination; leading the six-point autonomy movement; and challenging the regime of President Ayub Khan. In 1970, he led the Awami League to win Pakistan's first general election. When the Pakistani military junta refused to transfer power, he gave the 7th March speech and announced an independence movement. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Mujib declared Bangladesh's independence. Bengali nationalists declared him as the head of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, while he was confined in a jail in West Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, Mujib returned to Bangladesh in January 1972 as the leader of a war-devastated country. In the following years, he played an important role in rebuilding Bangladesh, constructing a secular constitution for the country, transforming Pakistani era state apparatus, bureaucracy, armed forces, and judiciary into an independent state, initiating the first general election and normalizing diplomatic ties with most of the world. His foreign policy during the time was dominated by the principle "friendship to all and malice to none". He remained a close ally to Gandhi's India and Brezhnev's Soviet Union, while balancing ties with the United States. He gave the first Bengali speech to the UN General Assembly in 1974. Mujib's government proved largely unsuccessful in curbing political and economic anarchy and corruption in post-independence Bangladesh, which ultimately gave rise to a left-wing insurgency. To quell the insurgency, he formed Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini, a special paramilitary force similar to the Gestapo, which was involved in various human rights abuses, massacres, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and rapes. Mujib's five-year regime was the only socialist period in Bangladesh's history, which was marked with huge economic mismanagement and failure, leading to the high mortality rate in the deadly famine of 1974. In 1975, he launched the Second Revolution, under which he installed a one party regime and abolished all kinds of civil liberties and democratic institutions, by which he "institutionalized autocracy" and made himself the "unimpeachable" President of Bangladesh, effectively for life, which lasted for seven months. On 15 August 1975, he was assassinated with most of his family members in his Dhanmondi 32 residence in a coup d'état. Sheikh Mujib's post-independence legacy remains divisive among Bangladeshis due to his economic mismanagement, the famine of 1974, human rights violations, and authoritarianism. Nevertheless, most Bangladeshis credit him for leading the country to independence in 1971 and restoring the Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, for which he is honoured as Bangabandhu (lit. 'Friend of Bengal'). He was voted as the Greatest Bengali of all time in the 2004 BBC opinion poll. His 7 March speech in 1971 is recognized by UNESCO for its historic value, and was listed in the Memory of the World Register. Many of his diaries and travelogues were published many years after his death and have been translated into several languages.

2. Sheikh Hasina (b. 1947)

With an HPI of 63.56, Sheikh Hasina is the 2nd most famous Bangladeshi Politician. Her biography has been translated into 91 different languages.

Sheikh Hasina (born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh. She served in the position of prime minister for over 20 years, making her the longest-serving prime minister in history of Bangladesh. Thus, she became the world's longest-serving female head of government. Her authoritarian regime ended in self-imposed exile following an uprising in 2024. As the autocratic regime of Hussain Muhammad Ershad came to an end, Hasina, then leader of the Bangladesh Awami League, lost the 1991 election to Khaleda Zia, with whom she had collaborated against Ershad. As leader of the opposition, Hasina accused Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of electoral dishonesty and boycotted Parliament, which was followed by violent demonstrations and political turmoil. Zia resigned in favour of a caretaker government, followed by Hasina becoming prime minister after the June 1996 election. While the country began to experience economic growth and a reduction in poverty, it remained in political turmoil during her first term, which ended in July 2001, with Hasina being succeeded by Zia following her victory. Hasina was the first Bangladeshi prime minister to serve a full five-year term since independence in 1971. During the 2006–2008 political crisis, Hasina was detained on extortion charges. After her release from jail, she won the 2008 election. In 2014, she was re-elected for a third term in an election that was boycotted by the BNP and criticised by international observers. In 2017, after nearly a million Rohingya entered the country, fleeing genocide in Myanmar, Hasina received credit and praise for giving them refuge and assistance. She won a fourth and fifth term after the 2018 and 2024 elections, which was marred by violence and widely criticised as being fraudulent. Her second premiership (2009–2024) was marked by economic mismanagement and rampant corruption, leading to rising foreign debt, increasing inflation, youth unemployment and banking irregularities. An estimated US$150 billion or Tk 17.6 lakh crore was syphoned out of Bangladesh by illegal means during this period. In 2022, anti-government protests broke out demanding the resignation of Hasina. In June 2024, fresh student protests erupted throughout the country, demanding the reform of quotas in government jobs. The protests were met with brutal crackdown by law-enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces, resulting in the massacre of students. By August, the protests intensified into a mass uprising against the government, which eventually culminated in Hasina resigning and fleeing to India. It is widely considered that Bangladesh experienced democratic backsliding under her premiership. Human Rights Watch documented widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings under her government. Numerous politicians and journalists were systematically and judicially punished for challenging her views. In 2021, Reporters Without Borders gave a negative assessment of Hasina's media policy for curbing press freedom in Bangladesh since 2014. Hasina has been criticised as being too close to India, often at the cost of Bangladesh's sovereignty. She is seen as a manifestation of India's interference in Bangladeshi politics, which the critics described as the main source of Hasina's power. Hasina was among Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and was listed as being one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes in 2015, 2018, and 2022.

3. Abdul Hamid (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 62.94, Abdul Hamid is the 3rd most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 63 different languages.

Mohammad Abdul Hamid (born 1 January 1944) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the 15th president of Bangladesh from 2013 to 2023. He was elected to his first term in April 2013, and re-elected in 2018. Previously, he served as the speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad from January 2009 to April 2013. He was the acting president after the death of Zillur Rahman in March 2013. He was the longest serving president in the history of Bangladesh.

4. Chandragupta I (250 - 335)

With an HPI of 58.10, Chandragupta I is the 4th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Chandragupta I (Gupta script: Cha-ndra-gu-pta, r. c. 319–335 CE) was a monarch of the Gupta Empire, who ruled in northern and central India. His title Mahārājadhirāja ("Great king of kings") suggests that he was the first suzerain ruler of the dynasty. It is not certain how he turned his small ancestral kingdom into an empire, although a widely accepted theory among modern historians is that his marriage to the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi helped him extend his political power. Their son Samudragupta further expanded the Gupta Empire. He converted the Principality of Pataliputra into an extensive empire.

5. Mohammed Shahabuddin (b. 1949)

With an HPI of 56.91, Mohammed Shahabuddin is the 5th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Mohammed Shahabuddin (born 10 December 1949) natively known as Chuppu, is a Bangladeshi jurist, civil servant and politician who has served as the 16th and current president of Bangladesh since 2023. He was elected unopposed in the 2023 presidential election as the nominee of the ruling Awami League. Prior to his presidency, Shahabuddin served as a district and sessions judge and a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016.

6. Zillur Rahman (1929 - 2013)

With an HPI of 56.38, Zillur Rahman is the 6th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Mohammed Zillur Rahman (9 March 1929 – 20 March 2013) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the President from 2009 until his death in 2013. He was also a senior presidium member of the Awami League. He is the third president of Bangladesh, after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman, to die in office, while being the first to die of natural causes.

7. Ziaur Rahman (1936 - 1981)

With an HPI of 55.63, Ziaur Rahman is the 7th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Ziaur Rahman BU HJ HOR (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981) was a Bangladeshi military officer, freedom fighter and politician who served as the sixth President of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination in 1981. One of the leading figures of country's Liberation War, he broadcast the Bangladeshi declaration of independence on 27 March 1971 from Chittagong. He was the founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He previously served as the third chief of army staff from 1975 to 1978 with a minor break. Ziaur, sometimes known as Zia, was born in Gabtali and trained at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad. He served as a commander in the Pakistan Army in the Second Kashmir War against the Indian Army for which he was awarded the Hilal-e-Jurrat from the Pakistani government. Ziaur was a prominent Bangladesh Forces commander during the country's Liberation War from Pakistan in 1971. He broadcast the declaration of independence on 27 March from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra radio station in Kalurghat, Chittagong. During the war in 1971, Ziaur was a Bangladesh Forces Commander of BDF Sector 1 initially, and from June as BDF Commander of BDF Sector 11 of the Bangladesh Forces and the Brigade Commander of Z Force from mid-July. After the war, Ziaur became a brigade commander in Bangladesh Army and later the deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff of Bangladesh Army. His ascent to leadership of the country resulted from the political crisis that had begun with the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh in 15 August 1975 military coup, followed by 3 November coup and then finally the 7 November coup (the Sipahi–Janata Revolution) within the military to gain control at the helm. Ziaur Rahman gained the de facto power as head of the government under martial law imposed by the Justice Sayem government. He took over the presidency in 1977. As president in 1978, Ziaur Rahman founded Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He reinstated multi-party politics, freedom of the press, free speech and free markets and accountability. He initiated mass irrigation and food production programmes, including social programmes to uplift the lives of the people. His government initiated efforts to create a regional group in South Asia, which later became SAARC in 1985. He improved Bangladesh's relations with the West and China, and departed from Sheikh Mujib's close alignment with India. Domestically, Ziaur faced as many as twenty-one coup attempts for which military tribunals were set up, resulting in at least 200 soldiers of Army and Air Force officers being executed, earning him a reputation of being "strict" and "ruthless" amongst international observers. Throughout his military career, Ziaur Rahman was awarded two gallantry awards for two campaigns he participated in; he was awarded the Hilal-i-Jurat for the Indo-Pak War in 1965, and Bir Uttom in 1972 for the Bangladesh Liberation War. He retired from the Bangladesh Army with the rank of Lt. General in 1978. Ziaur Rahman's death created a divided opinion on his legacy in Bangladeshi politics. Awami League supporters vilify him for alleged connections to Sheikh Mujib's assassination and controversial actions during his presidency. Critics argue that the Sheikh Hasina's authoritarian regime politically motivated the negative portrayal of Ziaur's legacy. Nevertheless, Zia is generally credited for his role in the Liberation War, stabilizing Bangladesh, industrializing agriculture, and fostering regional cooperation. His political party, the BNP, remains a major force alongside its rival, the Awami League, with his widow, Khaleda Zia, leading the party and serving three terms as prime minister.

8. Khawaja Nazimuddin (1894 - 1964)

With an HPI of 54.42, Khawaja Nazimuddin is the 8th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin (Bengali: খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; Urdu: خواجہ ناظِمُ الدّین; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the second governor-general of Pakistan from 1948 to 1951, and later as the second prime minister of Pakistan from 1951 to 1953. Born into an aristocratic Nawab family in Bengal in 1894, he was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University before pursuing his post-graduation studies at the Cambridge University. Upon returning, he embarked on his journey as a politician on the platform of All-India Muslim League. Initially, his political career revolved around advocating for educational reforms and development in Bengal. Later on he started supporting the cause for a separate Muslim homeland, rising to become the party's principal Bengali leader and a close associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He served as Prime Minister of Bengal in British India from 1943 to 1945, and later as the 1st Chief Minister of East Bengal in independent Pakistan. Nazimuddin ascended to Governor-General in 1948 after the death of Jinnah, before becoming Prime Minister in 1951 following the assassination of his predecessor, Liaquat Ali Khan. His term was marked by constant power struggles with his own successor as Governor-General, Ghulam Muhammad, as law and order deteriorated amid the rise of the Bengali language movement and protests in his native Dhaka in 1952, and religious riots in Lahore a year later. The latter crisis saw the first instance of martial law, limited to the city, and led to Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dismissing Nazimuddin on 17 April 1953. Nazimuddin's ministry was the first federal government to be dismissed in Pakistan's history, though his former ministers Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Abdul Sattar Pirzada, and Mahmud Husain refused to take the oath of office in the new cabinet. He retired from national politics, dying after a brief illness in 1964. He is buried at the Mausoleum of Three Leaders in Dhaka. He was one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan and the first Bengali to have governed Pakistan.

9. Iajuddin Ahmed (1931 - 2012)

With an HPI of 54.26, Iajuddin Ahmed is the 9th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Iajuddin Ahmed (1 February 1931 – 10 December 2012) was the President of Bangladesh, serving from 6 September 2002 until 12 February 2009. From late October 2006 to January 2007, he also served as Chief Advisor of the caretaker government. From October 2006 to early 2008, his responsibilities as president included the Defense Ministry of the caretaker government. With a doctorate in soil science, Ahmed became a full professor at the University of Dhaka and chairman of the department. Beginning in 1991, he started accepting appointments to public positions, as chairman of the Public Service Commission (1991 to 1993) and of the University Grants Commission (1995 to 1999). In 2002, he won election as president. In 2004, he helped establish the private university, Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology (ADUST).

10. Tajuddin Ahmad (1925 - 1975)

With an HPI of 53.40, Tajuddin Ahmad is the 10th most famous Bangladeshi Politician. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Tajuddin Ahmad (23 July 1925 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician. He led the 1st Government of Bangladesh as its prime minister during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, and is regarded as one of the most instrumental figures in the birth of Bangladesh. He is one of the founding leaders of Bangladesh. Tajuddin began as a Muslim League youth worker in British India. He belonged to the Dhaka-based pro-democracy, secular Muslim League faction, which broke with the Muslim League's reactionary party line after the partition of India and the birth of Pakistan. As a member of the short-lived youth organisation the Jubo League, he actively participated in the Language Movement in 1952. In 1953, he joined the Awami Muslim League (later the Awami League), a dissident offshoot of the Muslim League. The following year, he was elected a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly. As a close confidante, he assisted Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in revitalising the Awami League into a secular political party during Ayub Khan's regime in the late 1960s. As the General Secretary of the Awami League from 1966, Tajuddin coordinated the party during the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s, suffering imprisonment on several occasions. He formulated the early draft of the historic six-points demand that would eventually lead to the birth of Bangladesh. He coordinated the Awami League's election campaign for the 1970 Pakistani general election, in which the League gained a historic parliamentary majority. He also coordinated the non-cooperation movement of March 1971 precipitated by President Yahya Khan's delay in transferring power to the elected legislators. Tajuddin was among Sheikh Mujib's delegation in the Mujib-Yahya talks to settle the constitutional disputes between East and West Pakistan and transfer power to the elected National Assembly. Following the Pakistani army's crackdown on the Bangladeshi population on 25 March 1971, Tajudddin escaped to India. In the absence of Sheikh Mujib, he initiated the set up of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh in 1971 and headed it, operating in exile in India, as its prime minister. In independent Bangladesh, Tajuddin served as the Minister of Finance and Planning in Sheikh Mujib's Cabinet from 1972 to 1974. He was also a member of the committee drafting the Constitution of Bangladesh. He resigned from the cabinet in 1974 to live a quiet life. Following Sheikh Mujib's assassination in a coup d'état, Tajuddin was arrested and assassinated on 3 November 1975, along with three senior Awami League leaders in prison.

People

Pantheon has 26 people classified as Bangladeshi politicians born between 250 and 1983. Of these 26, 5 (19.23%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Bangladeshi politicians include Sheikh Hasina, Abdul Hamid, and Mohammed Shahabuddin. The most famous deceased Bangladeshi politicians include Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Chandragupta I, and Zillur Rahman. As of April 2024, 3 new Bangladeshi politicians have been added to Pantheon including Mohammed Shahabuddin, Syed Nazrul Islam, and A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury.