Bangladesh hopes that one of the country’s most admired intellectuals will bring stability to a nation plagued by coups and political turmoil.
Muhammad Yunus, whose work to alleviate poverty earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, was named head of a new interim government on Tuesday after Sheikh Hasina’s sudden ouster as prime minister this week. Though he has mostly stayed out of politics, Yunus is one of Bangladesh’s best-known faces and enjoys a strong following among the Western elite.
Restoring normality to Bangladesh will be no small feat for Yunus. Clashes between protesters and security personnel have left more than 300 people dead in the past few weeks, one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the South Asian country’s history. And while Hasina has lifted millions out of poverty through garment exports, economic growth in Bangladesh has stalled recently, forcing the International Monetary Fund to step in with bailout funds.
The military-backed appointment of Yunus to temporarily lead Bangladesh is a remarkable turn of events for the economist. Over the past few years, Yunus has spent much of his time in Dhaka courts, fighting nearly 200 charges against him and his associates, including money laundering and corruption. He and his supporters say Hasina’s government was behind the legal push and may have seen him as a threat to its power. He denies those charges.
Yunus, 84, is best known for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering microcredit — which provides small business loans to the world’s poorest people, most of whom are women. Though he has spent much of his life in public, politics remains largely unexplored territory. In 2007, the Bangladeshi government collapsed, and the military seized power. Yunus, who had never run for office, considered forming a new party to fill the void, but ultimately abandoned the idea within weeks.
“I’m very uncomfortable with politics,” he said in an interview earlier this year.
Yunus brings star power to the role and is the preferred choice of many Western governments. His supporters span industries and continents. Over the years, he has befriended European royalty, business tycoons such as Richard Branson and the Clintons, who helped Yunus expand his microcredit initiatives in the US. His friends say he is a rare visionary with a genuine commitment to uplift Bangladesh and the poor.
“He is the voice of those left behind,” said Paul Polman, a close friend and former chief executive of Unilever PLC. “He is a moral leader. He is not a man who likes to talk about himself. He likes to talk about the people he serves.”
This reputation has endeared him to many in Bangladesh, including the military, which had previously supported his first forays into politics. After he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, thousands of Bangladeshis flocked to venues just to hear him speak. Many still bow and feel touched when they see him. Over the past decade, Yunus has focused on expanding dozens of social businesses, including those that provide free healthcare, vocational training and phone services to poor Bangladeshis.
Mohammad Yunus at his office in Dhaka.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg
Whether Yunus is entering politics deliberately or filling a void before elections are held is still unclear. As protesters have taken to the streets of Dhaka in recent weeks, Yunus has spoken out publicly against the violence and described Hasina’s actions as a threat to democracy – but he has made no mention of ambitions to play a more formal role in shaping the new government.
“I’m not a politician. This is the last thing I would do,” he said in an interview earlier this year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
