Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim leader, talks about country’s challenges : NPR

Michel Martin, support: a little over a year ago, massive demonstrations of students in Bangladesh led Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country after 15 years of increasingly authoritarian domination. Military leaders claimed the demand for demonstrators that the Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed acting chief. He must speak to the General Assembly of the United Nations on Friday, where he told me that the message he wanted to transmit is the one who also led him as an individual.

Muhammad Yunus: We have to create a new world, a world of three zeros – zero net carbon emissions, zero concentration of wealth, zero unemployment.

Martin: All this represents a remarkable turn of events for Yunus, an eminent economist known for his decades of work on strategies to combat poverty. He had been among the many criticisms targeted by Sheikh Hasina. At the time of the demonstrations, Yunus feared the arrest on what he said to be accusations against the hassle. Then apparently overnight, he became the head of the country, promising to serve only until the elections are held. I met him last year because he was still reconciled by intermediating, and I met him again this week in New York.

Muhammad Yunus, thank you very much for talking to us again with us.

Yunus: Thank you. Thank you for returning.

Martin: It is not easy to inherit the hopes and dreams of millions of people who were aspired to change. It was a surprise when you were asked to resume this role as an acting leader. What was the most difficult part for you, and is there something that really surprised you?

Yunus: No surprised me, but disappointments.

Martin: Like what? Give an example.

Yunus: For example, the police. These are the same people who shoot young students. Suddenly, it was they who put the law on the street, and people say that you are the one who shoots me. The people who did it, they were demoralized because they are afraid of being beaten. There is no identity that this guy is wrong. This guy is right. For them, they are police officers carrying the uniform. SO…

Martin: So, a lack of confidence.

Yunus: Yes, lack of confidence.

Martin: Lack of confidence in …

Yunus: Lack of confidence.

Martin: … in a way the normal type of civil order mechanisms …

Yunus: Absolutely.

Martin: … were really broken. And what – do you feel like you are progressing in restoring this kind of confidence?

Yunus: We have traveled a long way, certainly. I think that in this period, we restored confidence in the police. But again, you are in a broken system. It takes time for people to have total confidence.

Martin: International Bangladesh transparency is an anti-corruption world organization, good governance. He says there is still a persistence of the violence of the crowd, and there is always the persistence of extrajudicial murders. Do you agree with this? Is it true …

Yunus: Problem first …

Martin: … to your estimate too?

Yunus: … The first problem is that Sheikh Hasina does not give up. She is in India. She installed her office, controlling her party members inside the country. Many leaders have fled, but the followers are still there, those who took advantage of this government. And they have a huge sum of money that they removed from Bangladesh. They control it, postponing it again so that they can create problems inside the country. The threat is the fact that the government of India allows Sheikh Hasina to do so out of India’s ground. And in the meantime, we have announced the election. So we want to have an environment where elections can take place.

Martin: I understand that the elections were set for February 2026. Is that correct?

Yunus: It’s true.

Martin: Do you think you are on the right track to keep this meeting?

Yunus: Oh, that’s a lot. People are very happy that we pursue this goal. We have three goals. One is the reform, and the second commitment is the trial of the leaders who are behind all the murders and so on, the mismanagement of the country. And the last is the election. All political parties are on board, so we are preparing for the upcoming elections.

Martin: Do you think that the members of the party that Sheikh Hasina belong to the Awami League, will participate in the elections?

Yunus: No, they are not allowed to participate.

Martin: They are not allowed to participate.

Yunus: They are not allowed because their activities are prohibited.

Martin: If party leaders renounce the violence and the responsibility of past violence, would they be authorized to participate?

Yunus: Well, we will see. I mean, we do not know in what terms they say that, and they show in the street. Today, they occupy the street and suddenly they come in great strength to disrupt the political activities of the country.

Martin: So let’s talk about the economy because I think, as many people may remember, your main expertise is the economy. You are the founder of the Grameen Bank, who launched the microlaves to help people improve their standard of living and so on. So how would you assess how the economy is? What is going well and what are the points of pain as far as you understand?

Yunus: We have gone a long way. It was a devastated economy. So we have to start all over again to make sure that banks are starting to work, companies are starting to work. We are starting to reimburse our bonds towards international companies, etc. So we are on the right track.

Martin: But do I understand that in 2024, approximately 20% of the country’s total leans in the country was lacking, which was in fact 28% higher than the previous year? Is it correct?

Yunus: Yeah, it was …

Martin: Yes.

Yunus: … devastated economy.

Martin: Yeah.

Yunus: So we took the country. If you can imagine, 15 years of earthquake. What do you see? Pieces. You must therefore find the parts to assemble to start again. It was therefore the period of one year that we spent doing so. It would therefore be a good opportunity to see this happy end for the interim government. We therefore rely the responsibility of leading the government to the elected people.

Martin: And you don’t intend to go to the elections?

Yunus: No, not me. I came from another world. I will come back to my world.

Martin: I would like to be able to describe the gesture of the hand you just made. It was like no.

(LAUGH)

Martin: It was big no. So right duly noted.

Yunus: Absolutely.

Martin: Do you know what I wanted to ask you questions? You know, Nepal recently had its own genetic revolution.

Yunus: Yeah.

Martin: It lasted less than 48 hours. Over the past two years, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal. I just wonder, what do you do with these uprisings which seem to have wavy through Southeast Asia? What are you doing?

Yunus: I would say two things. First, today’s young people can communicate very well because of technology. They can implement their ideas as quickly as anyone could even dream. At the same time, where they become powerful, there is enormous corruption in the system. They suffer from this corruption and they do not see the future. So they stand out against this. And that’s what happened in Bangladesh.

Martin: What do you say to young people who say that, I put my body in play for change, and I don’t see it yet? How do you encourage them? What do you say?

Yunus: Keep fighting. Do not give up. It’s your country. You must build your own country as you wish.

Martin: He is the interim chief of Bangladesh, the winner of the Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Thank you very much for talking to us.

Yunus: Thank you.

(Soundbite of “Area Index” of Adamame)

Steve Inskeep, host:

Now they have mentioned a group called the Awami League, which would have caused problems in India. We contacted this group – we have not heard of. We also heard the government of India, which said last month, it is, citing, “who is not aware of any anti-Bangladesh activity by alleged members of the Awami League in India”.

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