Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on Monday said the deadly anti-government protests erupted due to anger against Sheikh Hasina government and said democracy failed when her party, Awami League, was in power. Yunus, the internationally esteemed 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, also said that students singularly ousted her.
“It’s a celebration all over Bangladesh as she has left, students made it happen," Yunus, who is in Paris, working as an advisor with the Olympics organisers, said while speaking to CNN-News18.
He said that the deaths of student protesters was a ‘failure of democracy’. “This is a failure of democracy. The paramilitary and the army were brought in. The accumulated anger spilled over like a volcanic eruption," he said.
Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule as Bangladesh’s prime minister ended Monday as she fled more than a month of deadly protests and the military announced it would form an interim government.
The protests against her began with protesters demanding an overhaul of the job quota system but due to clashes that killed scores during the initial protests, new protests began last week demanding justice for those who died during the clashes.
The protesters have accused the police and Hasina’s party of coming together to attack and kill the protesters.
The latest violence took the total number of people killed since protests began to at least 366.
Yunus said that the protests restarted because of ‘utterances made’ and killings. He also said that the vandalisation was expected. “There is nothing wrong with that. They are expressing their anger," he said.
He also accused Hasina of rigging the elections held earlier this year. Hasina ruled Bangladesh from 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Yunus, who was pegged to be a rival of Sheikh Hasina, was indicted in a corruption case in June where the government prosecutors accused him and 13 others of embezzling $2.1 million (252 million Bangladeshi taka) from Grameen Telecom, one of several firms he founded.
“She made me more popular and in the process she hurt herself," Yunus said.
He was also among those who called for a caretaker government to be set up until the elections are concluded. “Having a caretaker government and a caretaker government taking care of elections was the cure. But Sheikh Hasina never let that happen," he said.
“I would like to return to Bangladesh but I stay away from politics," he said.
He expressed his disappointment over the way the Bangladesh government treated him. “They have a street named after me in Paris because of what I have done," he said.
He said that some people in Bangladesh felt that India was against them, referring to the election results, which some in Bangladesh claim were not properly conducted due to absence of an opposition.
“Bangladeshi people felt that India is against us, against Bangladesh," Yunus said and added that she should not have been congratulated after the election results were declared.
He said that it is possible that Bangladesh’s relationship with neighbours like China and Pakistan could be impacted by the protests with respect to its strategic outlook. “It’s possible (that) they will come," he said.
He said the ‘beauty of democracy’ is such that Awami League could script a comeback but said that protesters had a right to express their opinions. “Awami league can always come back, that’s the beauty of democracy… Everyone has the right to express their opinion as long as they follow rule and law. You have to accept democracy… there is no escape from that," he said.
The Nobel laureate said that people are not in favour of a military rule but did not offer his views on how a Bangladesh under the Awami League-rival Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
“It’s a question of how they present themselves to a new Bangladesh. They have to present themselves and explain what they have done or didn’t do in the past," he said.
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