Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus has openly criticised the political landscape in Bangladesh, labelling the country as a “one-party” state. In a recent interview, Yunus, renowned for his pioneering contributions to microcredit, accused the ruling Awami League of suppressing political opposition and dominating the electoral process.
Yunus, 83, voiced his concerns following the January election, which saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secure her fourth consecutive term. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted the election, citing the incarceration or exile of its key leaders. “There’s only one party which is active and occupies everything,” Yunus remarked.
Bangladesh’s Law Minister, Anisul Huq, strongly refuted Yunus’s allegations, branding them as an “insult” to the Bangladeshi people. “Democracy is fully functional in this country,” Huq asserted, emphasising that the Supreme Court had upheld a case against Yunus as valid.
Since his removal from Grameen Bank by Hasina’s government in 2011, Yunus has been entangled in over 100 legal cases, including a recent six-month imprisonment sentence related to labour law violations at Grameen Telecom. Despite these adversities, Yunus continues to maintain that the charges are baseless and driven by political motives.
