Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus saw the trajectory of his life change after student-led protests this summer resulted in his installation as the interim leader of Bangladesh.
NPR, an American public broadcasting organization, released the interview of Prof Yunus on Monday.
Autocratic former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India in early August, as tens of thousands of demonstrators stormed her residence protesting against her leadership and a job quota system that favored certain groups.
Yunus saw these events unfolding from about 5,000 miles away in Paris, where he was attending the summer Olympics. Back then, he still faced possible jail time in Bangladesh on embezzlement charges, which he alleged was Hasina’s political prosecution.
But hours after Hasina’s ouster on August 5, Yunus received a phone call. He was asked to serve as special advisor to the interim government. It was a “very strange turn of events,” he told NPR’s Morning Edition on Sept. 27 in New York City.
A 2006 Nobel Laureate, Yunus is known for founding Grameen Bank and pioneering small loans for low income people as a way to fight poverty. When he was mired in legal trouble at home, world leaders from Barack Obama to former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed solidarity.
After Yunus spoke at the UN General Assembly, he sat down with NPR’s Michel Martin.বিস্তারিত