New Delhi: Sheikh Hasina, who was forced to resign as prime minister of Bangladesh Monday amidst massive civil unrest in the country, destroyed the legacy of her father ‘Bangabandhu’ Mujibur Rehman, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, told ThePrint.
Speaking to ThePrint minutes after Hasina left Bangladesh, Yunus, who has been charged by the Hasina government in over 190 cases, said, “Bangladesh is liberated… We are a free country now.”
“We were an occupied country as long as she (Hasina) was there. She was behaving like an occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything. Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated.”
Yunus was convicted by the Hasina-led government in January for violating the country’s labour laws and is currently out on bail.
The Nobel Laureate said this is like a second liberation for the people of Bangladesh and there is celebration all over the country. “They are feeling the sense of liberation and joy that we can start all over again….We wanted to do it in the first round when we became independent in 1971. And we missed it because of all the problems we have right now. We now want to make a fresh start and create a beautiful country for ourselves. That’s the commitment we make and students and young people will be leading our future,” he said.
Asked about vandalism by protesters, who tried to damage a statue of Mujibur Rehman in Dhaka and stormed the parliament building, Yunus said that it’s an expression of the “damage she (Hasina) has done”.
“It says what they feel about Hasina, what she did to herself and her father… it’s not the fault of the young people who are doing this,” he said.
Yunus, founder of the pioneering microfinance system that lifted millions of poor out of poverty in Bangladesh, ruled out any role in active politics. “I’m not the kind of person who would like to be in politics. Politics is not my cup of tea,” he maintained.
Currently in Paris, he said he would soon return to Bangladesh and continue to work for the people the way he did earlier.
“I will continue with my work in a more free environment that I didn’t have during the regime of Sheikh Hasina because she was always attacking me. I will continue, devote myself to the things I could not do before,” he said.
Earlier in the day, coming down heavily on the Hasina-led government, Yunus had in a separate interview with ThePrint demanded that she resign immediately.
“People are being killed by our own soldiers, our own police. They don’t feel good about it at all, but they are being ordered to do something and kill people… what kind of government you have, which decides to kill its own people instead of protecting people’s lives,” he had told ThePrint.
Asked what led to massive civil unrest in the country, he said, “A very simple thing, you took away their (people’s) right to vote. All the anger that they accumulated could not be expressed in any political way. So that came out as a simple demand for quota changes. It immediately caught up because the government behaved the same way, attacking them rather than listening to them because they are not in a listening mood at all. Only one person in the country decides everything. Her word is the law.”
Explaining the state of affairs, he also said that Hasina decided the fate of every election held in Bangladesh. “That became unbearable. Now, people have the opportunity to express that and you cannot stop that anymore.”
Also Read: How quota protests snowballed into movement that ended Sheikh Hasina’s 15-yr rule in Bangladesh
Muhammad Yunus on US, India
Asked if the United States had any role in the transition of power, Yunus said, “Usually people think about India playing a role in all this and people blame the US for not playing an active role in Bangladesh and always trying to do things there through India. People are very upset about that.”
He added that unlike the US, India has played a “major role” as far as Bangladesh is concerned.
“I don’t know what role they are playing now in this scenario and what role they will play in the upcoming situation,” he told ThePrint.
The “banker of the poor” — as Yunus is known internationally — said he, however, believes that Bangladesh and India will continue to have good relations. “How to shape it, how to design it, how to give mutual respect… those are things the next government, when it is elected, will decide and I am sure it will be a great friendship,” he said.
He also said that he was disappointed with India’s reaction to the civil unrest in Bangladesh.
“When it comes to student demonstrations, you said this is an internal affair. I said, well, your neighbour’s house is burning and India is saying it is their internal affair. But when our elections are held, you rush to make sure that it is held according to their wishes and manipulate everything… all these elections took place because India was very eager to make the result according to their choice,” Yunus said.
Muhammad Yunus on role of Opposition
The Nobel Laureate said that with Hasina no longer calling the shots in Dhaka, things have changed in Bangladesh and he is not sure what role opposition parties including former PM Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will play in the current scenario.
“That’s a question the new government will have to face.”
He added that Hasina’s party, the Awami League, too is not the same anymore.
“So what role they (opposition) will play in this disintegrated form, we don’t know. The BNP never played any role because they never had a chance… they are not in Parliament. We don’t know what is left of them, what they will do. The other parties are very minor parties. The Jamaat-e-Islami is banned,” he said.
He added that the BNP was silent so far because they have been under attack all along. “Now in a free country, how they emerge, how they decide their policies and actions, if there is an election, what role they will play in the elections, how they perform in the elections, is not very clear as of now.”
Yunus also told ThePrint that once a general election is held, a lot of things will change.
“We don’t need to speculate. We will go back to the people, they will be voting. They will decide, which party exists, which party will disappear, which party will become stronger than ever,” he said.
At the same time, he also said he hopes to see a new political formation in the country. “Young people should lead the way… they should be in charge of the country, not the older generation,” he said.
His advice for the people of Bangladesh: be wary of past mistakes. “Make sure we stay close to democratic principles and all the things it stands for… freedom of speech, rule of law, independence of judiciary and all the things we talk about. So we stick to that. As long as we stick to that you remain a strong country. We can be a beautiful country,” he said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Once strong advocate for democracy, now leader without a country — tracing Sheikh Hasina’s fall