Yunus followed in Havel’s footsteps, and became the formal head of the Interim government. This decision was made during a meeting at Dhaka’s BangBhavan, the residence of President Mohammad Shahabuddin. The meeting was attended by representatives from Students Against Discrimination (SAD), the group that led the anti-Sheikh Hasina movement as well as three military chiefs of Bangladesh, two Dhaka University professors and two liaison committee members.
There appeared to be vacuum after the fleeing of Hasina on August 5 and someone was needed to lead the country out of crisis following abdication of power by Prime Minister Hashina and eventual dissolution of her government. “He is acceptable among every section of society”, a Dacca University Professor, who was part of meeting at President’s residence, said. “Yunus is Nobel laureate and will help Bangladesh in restoring its international identity. His community development bank’s micro credit and microfinance initiatives have had a positive impact on the lives of the poor.”
Born in 1940 in the Chittagong district of undivided Bengal Presidency, Yunus was the third of nine children, and went to Chittagong Collegiate School. “We are very happy that Dr. Yunus has been chosen to lead us,” Muhammad Sirajul Islam, the proud Principal said. “We are confident that he will do everything needed for the welfare and development of Bangladesh”.
After completing his master’s in economics at Dhaka University, Yunus briefly worked as a lecturer before receiving a Fulbright scholarship in 1965 to pursue his PhD in US. In 1975, four years after Bangladesh gained Independence from Pakistan, he returned with the determination to alleviate poverty in his country.
The Bangladesh famine of 1974 greatly influenced Yunus. After personally lending $27 to 42 women in Bangladesh, the idea of microcredit occurred to him. He started the Gramin Bank in 1983 with the idea of disbursing small loans to the poor in Bangladesh without collateral. The Bank became a big source of helping the distressed women of the country. He became a big name in self-help financing. He got the Nobel Prize and became internationally famous. Dr. Yunus had a running battle with the ousted Prime Minister Hasina. He was imprisoned by her government on the basis of allegations that he did not pay due taxes He was out of prison finally and left abroad. He came back at the call of the movement leaders to lead the interim government. (IPA Service)
BANGLADESH INTERIM GOVT HEAD DR. MD YUNUS IS AN INSTITUTION BUILDER
HIS GRAMEEN BANK CONCEPT HAS BEEN FOLLOWED IN MANY COUNTRIES
Harihar Swarup - 14-08-2024 11:47 GMT-0000
When the protesting students approached Dr. Muhammad Yunus to head interim government in Bangladesh, the Nobel laureate had several examples he could turn to while weighing his options. While French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre declined to be a leader of the 1968 students’ movement, Russian author Alekxander Solzhenstein refused to pursue Presidency in the post-Soviet Union era because he preferred an authoritarian regime with traditional Christian values. Author Vaclav Havel went the other way. He accepted the offer to become President of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.