Bangladesh's Prodigal Son

AFTER YEARS IN EXILE, TARIQUE RAHMAN RETURNS HOME TO A NATION IN FLUX

- By Charlie Campbell/Dhaka

Tarique Rahman poses for a portrait in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Jan. 12

TARIQUE RAHMAN HAS LOST HIS VOICE. THAT ISN'T IDEAL for the aspiring leader of Bangladesh, the South Asian nation of 175 million. It's also tinged with irony since, as his homeland's de facto opposition leader, Rahman's speeches had been banned from local media for a decade by autocratic former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“My body is getting adjusted to this local weather,” says Rahman, speaking to TIME in the garden of his family home, resplendent with bougainvillea and marigolds, in his first interview since returning to his homeland after 17 years in exile. “The thing is that I’m not very good at talking anyway,” he shrugs, “but if you ask me to do something, I try my best.”

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Rahman, who arrived in Bangladesh on Dec. 25, greeted by hundreds of thousands of rapturous supporters who had waited throughout the night at Dhaka’s airport. Just five days later, his mother, Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, passed away following a long illness, drawing even larger numbers to throng the sprawling capital to pay their respects. “It’s very heavy in my heart,” says Rahman, eyes welling. “But the lesson I learned from her is that when you have a responsibility, you must perform it.”

That responsibility might be nothing less than following in her footsteps. Rahman is the clear front runner in Feb. 12 elections, which were called after Hasina’s ouster in a studentled popular uprising 18 months ago. Rahman is positioning himself as a bridge between a political aristocracy that dates back to Bangladesh's liberation struggle and the aspirations of its young revolutionaries.