Nobel winner's entry into Bangladeshi politics stirs debate
When Bangladeshi microloans banker Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, he became the darling of a nation often known only for its abject poverty and devastating natural disasters.
Mr. Yunus – whose antipoverty microloans to poor women have earned him the nickname "banker to the poor" – was celebrated here for his refusal to toe a party line in a country where even top academics are sharply divided across rival political camps. His modest lifestyle and his three-decades-long dedication to the antipoverty cause were extolled in the media, and there were popular demands that he should head an interim government.
His stature at home grew with his international acclaim and close personal friendship with former President Bill Clinton and his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) of New York, which many believed helped cast Bangladesh in a more positive light.
But six months later, Yunus is surrounded in controversy.
The Nobel Laureate has launched his own "Citizens' Power" political party, capturing the public imagination with promises of a departure from the violence, vitriol, corruption, and abuse of power that has characterized Bangladeshi politics. But many ordinary Bangladeshis say that Yunus should not sully his image by joining politics. Others question his decision to launch a party at a time when a military-backed interim government is ruling Bangladesh in a "state of emergency" after violent protests forestalled elections scheduled for Jan. 22.
The new regime has detained almost all major leaders of Bangladesh's two main political parties, the Awami League and the BNP, including the former prime minister's son, to investigate their links to corruption.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, a prominent civil-society leader and a director of the Dhaka-based economic think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue sees Yunus' entry into politics as positive.
"A positive outcome of Yunus's party is already apparent as the Awami League and the BNP are both talking about internal reforms to a party system characterized by a lack of democracy, influence of black money and muscle power, as well as a mismatch between commitments and delivery, when either were in power," Mr. Bhattacharya says.
Yet, while most Bangladeshis desperately want change in a political culture embedded with corruption and abuse of power, Yunus's Citizens' Power – which intends to field 'clean candidates' – has at best drawn mixed reactions.
"Many people who love and respect Yunus and are intellectually close to him are resisting his entry into politics because they fear it will make him a controversial figure," says Atatur Rahman, a political analyst and a professor at Dhaka University. "It is impossible to win elections in Bangladesh without spending millions [of taka] in campaigns, and if he wants to win elections, Yunus will more likely have to conform to the existing political culture rather than be able to change it radically," says Mr. Rahman.
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