Muhammad Yunus To Lead Country Out Of Crisis: Bangladesh Uprising. Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus will lead the Bangladesh’ interim goernment. The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, a 13-member team, met President Mohammed Shahabuddin for the finalization of the members of the interim government.
This comes after Bangladesh army chief Waqar-uz-Zaman ordered the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and make way for the interim government as this was in the best interests of the country that has been embroiled in protests since June.
About 200 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in violent confrontations between protesters and the police. Hasina resigned on Monday and fled to India.
Members of Awami League, the dominant political party which was led by Sheikh Hasina, have been bearing the brunt of the protestors, several members and their family members have been killed by a mob of protesters. The party has been called out by Bangladeshi youths as dictatorial and fascist.
Who is Muhammad Yunus?
Muhammad Yunus, 83, is a Nobel laureate and a longtime opponent of Hasina. He is an economist and world-renowned banker who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microfinance. Yunus is the founder of Grameen (Rural) Bank, which provides small loans to small business owners who fail to qualify for loans in normal banks. It has uplifted hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty in Asian countries.
However, he has been at loggerheads with Hasina for decades. The former prime minister had accused the economist of using force to recover loans from poor rural women when he was the head of Grameen Bank. However, Yunus denied these allegations saying the Awami League has been targeting him ever since he announced in 2007 that he would launch his political party.
Recently, he had been accused and charged with money laundering as well as of embezzling $2 million from the Grameen Telecom’s workers’ welfare fund. Earlier this year, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail for violations of labor law. He also faces over 100 cases in regard to violations and graft accusations.
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Bangladesh Needs Democracy
About the protests in Bangladesh, Yunus blamed the lack of communication between the people and the government. He said the country needs democracy and highlighted that there hasn’t been any election for many, many years – one country, one party, one leader, and one narrative.
The economist rebuked Hasina for power politics and trying to control the citizens. Yunus accused the former Hasina-led government of lying. The Nobel laureate described Hasina’s resignation from the top position as ‘second liberation day’ for Bangladesh. And now he is set to lead the country’s interim government.
