Muhammad Yunus: 5 facts about possible chief advisor of Bangladesh interim govt

Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in micro-finance in 2006 and revolutionised the field of micro-lending through his Grameen Bank.

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and her escape into India on Monday following the government job quota protests by the students community in the country is the beginning to a new chapter of the country's turbulent political history since its formation in 1971 following a brutal Liberation War.

With still over 100 charges in his name, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail by the court in January but was granted bail in March..(AFP)

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Mohammed Shahabuddin, Bangladesh President, announced an interim government to be formed soon after the parliament is dissolved and has also ordered the release of former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Amidst this political turmoil, the student protesters have proposed Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus to be the chief adviser for the suggested interim government, in a Facebook video which was posted on Tuesday early morning.

“We have decided that internationally renowned Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus will be appointed as the chief advisor in the interim government, and we have also spoken with Dr Muhammad Yunus. He has agreed to take on this significant responsibility in response to the call of the students and public to safeguard Bangladesh,” said Nahid Islam, a key coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement which spearheaded the protests.

Who is Muhammad Yunus? Here are five facts about him.

1. Muhammad Yunus was born on 28 June 1940 in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in a well-off family with his father being a successful goldsmith. He finished his UG and PG at the Dhaka University in Bangladesh and then received a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University where received his Ph.D in 1969. In the following year, he became an assistant professor at Middle Tennessee State University before returning to Bangladesh, where he headed the economics department of Chittagong University.
2. In 1983, Muhammad Yunus established the Grameen Bank which was founded on the belief that “credit is a fundamental human right". Its objective was to help poor people escape poverty by providing loans to them on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves. What started out as small amounts of money as personal loans to basketweavers in his home country, developed into a world movement revolutionising finances through micro-lending.
3. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in micro-finance in 2006 and has also won numerous other accolades such as the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal, Mohamed Shabdeen Award for Science (1993), Sri Lanka; Humanitarian Award (1993), CARE, USA; World Food Prize (1994), World Food Prize Foundation, USA; lndependence Day Award (1987), Bangladesh’s highest award; King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award (2000), King Hussien Foundation and so on. He also served as a board member of the United Nations Foundation from 1998 to 2021.
4. In 2007, Muhammad Yunus announced plans to set up his own "Citizen Power" party in attempt change the political culture of Bangladesh but was plagued with troubles due to instability and periods of military rule.
5. This ‘banker to the poor’ also had his share of legal troubles from the regime, since Hasina returned to power in 2008. He was slapped with a series of criminal cases and accused of promoting homosexuality in a smear campaign led by the state. Bangladesh government forced him out Grameen Bank in 2011 and in 2022 he was hit with embezzlement charges. With still over 100 charges in his name, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail by the court in January but was granted bail in March.