Yunus is struggling to remain relevant in Bangladesh

The Print

2 days ago

Both have not gone down well with pressure groups and political parties. And then there are other factors behind Yunus' growing unpopularity among the people.
There were two news items concerning the Yunus administration in the first week of June – new currency notes with graffiti and slogan of the July revolution, and symbols of Bangladesh's temples, monasteries, and historic buildings printed on them, replacing the old ones with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's face, and the announcement of the date for the next national election.
Muhammad Yunus may have successfully removed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's image from Bangladesh's new currency notes, but the head of the interim government is fighting for his own relevance. From liberals to radicals to political parties, Yunus is fast becoming increasingly unpopular in Bangladesh.
No to Mujib, yes to temples
For Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, general secretary of the Bangladesh Awami Jubo League, the Yunus administration's continuous attempts to undermine Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's place in history has alienated a large section of Bangladesh's population. And not just the Awami League ecosystem.
Talking to ThePrint over phone, Nikhil said there might be discontent among some people about the Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina that fell on 5 August 2024. 'But wiping out Sheikh Mujib's face from currency notes after allowing a mob to pull down his official residence, Dhanmondi 32, on February 5 this year has angered a large section of Bangladesh's population'.
According to Nikhil, Sheikh Mujib stands as the epitome of liberal values that helped sever ties with West Pakistan in 1971 and turn East Pakistan into Bangladesh. 'Sheikh Mujib was not only the leader of Awami League. He was the leader of a people who rose beyond their religious identities to forge a nation based on common language and culture,' he said.
Systematically wiping out Sheikh Mujib from public spaces has angered even those liberals in Bangladeshi society who were unhappy with the Sheikh Hasina regime, Nikhil added.
Ironically, even the radicals are reportedly unhappy with the new currency notes. While fundamentalist groups within Bangladesh are happy with Sheikh Mujib's face being deleted from the new notes, images of heritage Hindu temples on some new notes have irked them.
On 7 August 2024, two days after Sheikh Hasina fled from Dhaka, a report in The New York Times had said: 'Hindus in Bangladesh, perceived by many to be supporters of the prime minister who was ousted in a popular uprising, braced for violent reprisals on Wednesday as the rudderless country awaited the formation of a new government after a month of unrest.'
Bangladeshi political journalist Sahidul Hasan Khokon told ThePrint that such attacks on Hindu lives, properties, and temples are still being carried out. 'The local media has been forced to not report such incidents so that global attention is not drawn towards the persecution of minorities in the country'. Temples are an eyesore to Islamic fundamentalists, Khokon said, adding that images of temples in new currency notes have made Yunus suddenly unpopular among radicals who have been firmly behind him so far.
Also read: Bangladesh Army Chief wants elections. Muhammad Yunus wants to get rid of him
Delayed polls or no polls?
On 6 June, in a televised address to the nation, Muhammad Yunus announced that the national election will be held in the first half of April 2026. 'Based on this announcement, the Election Commission will provide a detailed roadmap in due course,' he said.
A day later, Bangladesh National Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said not just his party, but the entire nation was disappointed by the chief adviser's announcement.
'The BNP has repeatedly said that it wants elections as soon as possible. We had hoped that Dr Muhammad Yunus would announce the election date by December,' he told reporters.
In a report, The Daily Star said leaders of prominent leftist parties have also expressed dissatisfaction over the interim government's announcement to hold national elections in April next year. Ruhin Hossain Prince, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, called the announcement of the election timeline a 'partial step' that disregards public demand.
'Most political parties, and ordinary citizens we have spoken with, want the election to be held within this year by December. We want the same,' the report quoted Prince as saying.
Senior journalist and Bangladesh watcher Jaideep Mazumdar said there is fear among the BNP and other political parties that elections may not take place at all in Bangladesh next year. 'Yunus has simply been buying time and there is no way he is going to give up power so easily. This is an unelected government whose only job was to ready the country for polls. Instead, it has taken upon itself a wide range of reforms and foreign policy initiatives that would easily carry on for years and Yunus could very well keep postponing the date of polls citing their incompletion,' Mazumdar told ThePrint.
But according to Sahidul Hasan Khokon, Yunus would want to pass the July Proclamation before April next year and do away with the current constitution of the country. On 31 December last year, the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement of Bangladesh and other constituents of the July revolution had planned to launch the 'July Proclamation' that would 'bury the 1972 constitution of Bangladesh'.
'Once the proclamation is passed and Bangladesh has a new constitution, Yunus could legitimise his unelected government and stall elections for the next few years. That is the real fear among all political parties, except the new students' party and the Jamaat-e-Islami that supports Yunus,' Khokon said.
Also read: Yunus' 'reforms first, elections later' plan has no takers in Bangladesh. It's time to choose
Whither Bangladesh?
For the common Bangladeshi, it is neither the election date nor the new currency notes that has been the biggest cause for concern after the fall of the Hasina government. In a report in BBC Bangla, the Human Rights Support Society said at least 119 citizens were lynched between August last year and March 2025, and at least 75 were injured from mob terror. The report said law and order has collapsed in Bangladesh while mob violence marked a record uptick.
'The rising number of cases of mob violence and lynching show a tendency to deliver instant justice. A rumor gets circulated and public opinion is shaped against a person almost instantly and the attack begins. While there have been instances of people being killed on the suspicion of theft or dacoity, there have been lynchings for political differences as well. After the fall of the Hasina government there has been a sharp decline in the law-and-order situation in the country and no effective steps have been taken to curb these,' the report said.
Unchecked rise of Islamists
Khokon said at least 346 militants including the spiritual leader of Al-Qaeda-inspired terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, Jashimuddin Rahmani, have been released since August last year. 'The average Bangladeshi practices moderate Islam. The Yunus administration looks the other way as radicals get emboldened by the day. Previously outlawed terrorist outfits like Hizbut Taharir have gained new lease of life and publicly campaigned for Caliphate,' he said.
And it is not just Hindus who have been at the receiving end of Islamist ire. Even Sufi Muslims have said there are increasing attacks on their places of worship. 'About a hundred of our shrines (mazars) and centres have been attacked in the past six months,' Anisur Rahman Jafri, secretary general of the Sufism Universal Foundation, told the BBC.
Also read: An open letter to Prof Muhammad Yunus
Where are the jobs?
Youth unemployment in Bangladesh will continue to remain high, more than double the national unemployment rate, with university graduates being the hardest hit, The Daily Star reported on 29 May, quoting a World Employment and Social Outlook report released by the International Labour Organization.
The International Labour Organization identified geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions as key factors weakening Bangladesh's economic outlook, leading to slower job growth.
The Daily Star report said Bangladesh's unemployment rate rose to 4.63 per cent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024–25, as a growing number of job seekers failed to secure employment, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, published recently.
'With rising unemployment, worsening law and order situation, and radicals running the streets, how exactly do you expect Yunus to remain popular,' Khokon said.
Deep Halder is an author and a contributing editor at ThePrint. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)