Politics & Power Quote by Khaleda Zia

Parliamentary politics, Khaleda Zia suggests, isn’t just a contest of numbers; it’s a slow-burning discipline of restraint. The line reads like a civics lesson, but its real force comes from what it smuggles in: a claim that procedure is morality. Patience isn’t a personality trait here, it’s an operating system. Without it, debate becomes brawling, legislation becomes vendetta, and the chamber turns into a stage for humiliation rather than governance.

“Decency, politeness and courtesy” piles up like a code of conduct precisely because those are the first things to collapse when power is at stake. The repetition does a quiet kind of scolding: if you need all four words, it’s because the culture of politics keeps finding ways to excuse the absence of each. Zia’s intent isn’t merely to praise manners; it’s to draw a boundary between legitimate opposition and delegitimizing sabotage. In parliamentary systems, where argument is institutionalized, civility is not ornamental. It’s a tool that keeps today’s losers from rejecting tomorrow’s results.

The context, for a Bangladeshi statesman, is hard to miss. Bangladesh’s modern political history has been shaped by intense rivalry, street agitation, boycotts, and cycles of mistrust that often spill beyond the legislature. Against that backdrop, the quote doubles as a defense of the institution itself: parliament as a place where conflict can be metabolized into compromise. The subtext is a warning dressed as etiquette: without basic courtesies, the entire democratic machine starts to look optional.