Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus appointed as Bangladesh’s interim leader after Sheikh Hasina resigns amid protests over job quota system.

New Delhi, 7 August 2024

Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus was appointed as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on Tuesday by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, following the resignation and departure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina amid protests turned violent due to a contentious job quota scheme.

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The decision was made during a four-hour meeting at Bangabhaban, where President Shahabuddin met with the heads of the three military branches and a 13-member delegation from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. After the meeting, the President’s Press Secretary, Md. Joynal Abedin, announced that “the President named Dr. Dr. Yunus as the head advisor to the provisional administration.”

The composition of the interim cabinet will be finalized after further discussions with various political parties. The state-run BSS news agency reported that President Shahabuddin expressed a desire to include at least one veteran from the 1971 Liberation War as an adviser in the interim cabinet.

Present at the meeting were Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Navy Chief Admiral M Nazmul Hassan, Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, Dhaka University Law Professor Asif Nazrul, and International Relations Professor Tanzim Uddin Khan.

Currently outside the country, Yunus welcomed the removal of Sheikh Hasina’s government, calling it the “second liberation” of Bangladesh. The 84-year-old economist and social entrepreneur, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in poverty alleviation through the Grameen Bank, described the development as a significant milestone for the country.

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Muhammad Yunus has had a long-standing and contentious relationship with Hasina’s government. Following Hasina’s rise to power in 2008, multiple investigations were launched against Yunus, leading to a review of Grameen Bank’s operations in 2011. Subsequently, Yunus was removed from his position as the bank’s founding managing director, allegedly for violating government retirement regulations. This strained relationship is believed to have deepened after Yunus considered forming a political party in 2007 during a period when Bangladesh was under a military-backed government and Hasina was imprisoned. Although Yunus did not pursue the political party, he was openly critical of Bangladeshi politicians at the time, accusing them of being primarily motivated by money.