“Khamba Tareque”: How a Political Meme Replaced the Truth in Bangladesh

"Khamba Tareque": How a Political Meme Replaced the Truth in Bangladesh

By Mohammad Golam Nabi,

Columnist | Publicvoxnews|5 February, 2026

We all know the phrase “Khamba Tareque.”

But very few people—especially Gen Z voters—know how this phrase was created, why it spread so fast, and how deeply it has been planted in Bangladesh’s political memory.

To understand “Khamba Tareque,” we must begin not with Tareque Rahman, but with an older accusation against former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

For years, it has been claimed that Khaleda Zia “rejected a free submarine cable offer” in 1991.

This claim has been repeated so often—in Parliament, on television talk shows, and in political rallies—that many people now accept it as unquestionable truth.

Yet to this day, no documentary evidence has ever been produced to support this so-called “free offer.”

I have been involved in ICT journalism since 1991. While investigating this issue, I once visited the late renowned telecom expert Abu Saeed Khan at his Banani residence. He stated clearly:

“There has never been a ‘free offer’ for submarine cable from any international business consortium anywhere in the world.”

He advised me to search for official records myself. I did.

I went to the Secretariat. I searched files.

Nothing was found.

Even more surprising is the fact that the BNP never built a strong, evidence-based counter-narrative. As a result, an unproven claim slowly turned into collective memory.

This is not new in our society. We often believe what we hear, without checking.

The proverb says: “When someone says a bird has taken your ear, you run after the bird without checking your ear first.”

A few days ago, after Rahul Gandhi’s speech at Cambridge, an elderly man questioned him at a public event. Rahul asked whether he had personally listened to the speech.

The answer was no—he had only heard about it from someone else.

This culture of believing without verifying is one of the greatest weaknesses in South Asian politics.

Without understanding this psychology, one cannot understand “Khamba Tareque.”

The Burden of Being ‘Khaleda Zia’s Son’

When Khaleda Zia became Prime Minister in 1991, Tareque Rahman was only 26.

Senior BNP leaders had first seen him much earlier, in 1978, when he was just 13 years old.

In our culture, parents—and even their close associates—often continue to see a child as “young,” no matter how old he becomes.

When BNP returned to power in 2001, Tareque Rahman was 36.

But to many senior party leaders, he was still the same “boy.”

They expected loyalty, not leadership.

Many in the public thought the same. They saw not his position, but his identity:

“Khaleda Zia’s son.”

This created a difficult political reality.

His initiatives—such as worker training, eco-friendly agricultural boundary management, and rehabilitation for river erosion victims—were rarely allowed to come forward. Some dismissed them by saying:

“These are his father’s ideas. What is new here?”

Thus, Tareque Rahman had to walk a long, unnecessary road just to be recognized as Tareque Rahman—not someone’s son.

This weakness became an easy opportunity for political opponents.

How a Slogan Was Born

Between 2001 and 2006, it is true that some corrupt and morally questionable individuals gathered around him. But because the party failed to give clear, transparent explanations, truth and rumor merged.

From that mixture, a slogan was born:

“Khamba Tareque.”

What Does a ‘Khamba’ Actually Mean?

Electricity reaches homes through three overlapping stages:

Generation

Transmission

Distribution

Infrastructure for transmission and distribution is built before electricity is produced, so that power can flow immediately once generation begins.

The khamba (electric pole) is only a visible part of transmission and distribution.

In many cases, poles appear long before electricity reaches an area.

So a pole is not proof of corruption.

At most, it is only an indicator.

The real questions should be:

Was a substation built?

Were transformers installed?

Where did grid connectivity fail?

Why was funding stopped?

But political propaganda avoids these technical questions.

Because people do not understand engineering.

They only understand results: Is there light at home or not?

This is where “Khamba Tareque” becomes a powerful weapon.

A one-line story:

“There were poles, but no electricity.”

It becomes a slogan.

A meme.

A joke.

But phrases like “substation commissioning” or “grid upgrade” never become slogans.

Ridicule as a Political Strategy

For sixteen years, the same words, same tone, same mockery were used repeatedly across Parliament, talk shows, news portals, and social media.

In communication theory, this is called the Ridicule Strategy—

a method where a person is not defeated by logic, but by mockery.

The goal was simple:

So that people would not see Tareque Rahman as a leader—

but as a meme character.

The Irony Today

After 2010, the power and energy sector was placed under a Special Provision Act, enabling large-scale corruption.

Today, Bangladesh has high electricity generation, yet:

Load shedding continues

Electricity prices rise

Subsidies grow

Capacity charges drain the economy

Now no one talks about poles.

Because now people see the real cost—

their electricity bills.

Final Words

“Khamba Tareque” is not the story of one man.

It is the story of Bangladesh’s politics,

where truth is ignored,

and character assassination replaces accountability.

Those who love the truth

must search for the truth.

Golam Mohammad Nabi

Columnist, Publicvoxnews