I took an oath in Bangabhaban without going to jail : Dr. Yunus

The chief adviser of the interim government . Muhammad Yunus. Last Wednesday at the office of the chief adviser

Peace Nobel laureate professor Dr.​ Muhammad Yunus took over as chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh after the student - mob uprising . He took this responsibility at the special request of the students in an unprecedented political situation of the country . This economist spoke to Prothom Alo about the people's dream of a new Bangladesh , the realization of that dream through reforms in various important sectors , the transition to democracy and the ongoing situation . Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman and Diplomatic Correspondent Raheed Ejaz interviewed him at the Chief Adviser's office last Wednesday .

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Dr.​ Greetings to you Muhammad Yunus . It has not been two months since you took over as the Chief Advisor to the Interim Government of Bangladesh . Brand new time , brand new responsibilities , which you may have never thought of before . How do you feel about this responsibility ? how are you​

Dr.​Muhammad Yunus : I am. i am good A new responsibility. big responsibility Trying to handle the responsibility . I am trying to get qualified to carry a responsibility that suddenly came , to turn it into work .​

We know that you have had to listen to a lot of abuse for two decades . Had to walk around the balcony of the court . It is also said that you will be bathed in the water of Padma . You are supposed to go to jail , maybe you should have been in jail this time . Suddenly everything changed .​ You are now leading the administration of the state . A surprising , strange and wonderful change . Have you ever thought that something could happen ?​​

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Dr.​Yunus : It is like a new experience . I was preparing to go to jail two days ago . I was going door to door in the court . Suddenly, instead of going to jail , I went to Bangabhaban and took the oath . Quite the opposite is a surprising picture. I was also called in the past . To take charge of the government . I'm sorry . It never seriously thought of taking responsibility .​ This time it was a completely different situation. I have taken responsibility for this .

How did you get involved in this big change ? How was your communication with student leaders ? At what stage did you agree ?

Dr.​Yunus : I had no contact with student leaders . I used to see them in newspaper and television news . I was watching the movement as always . I was abroad when this movement was gaining momentum . I was performing a duty at the Paris Olympics . I was involved in designing it . At this time the movement peaked . At that time , I inaugurated a street in Paris named after me .​ So I look this way , that way , as a distant view .

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Those who kept in touch with me from my office were saying : ' Sir, don't come back now , the situation is not good now . If you come, you will be taken to jail . You live a little far away . I will tell you when to come after understanding the situation . ' So I was planning to go to Berlin , after Berlin to Rome . Then go to Brazil and so on. Coming back to the country and having to take up such a responsibility , it was not at all in my mind . At this time one of the students informed my office that he wanted to talk to me . This is the first time I have heard about the students . I wanted to know what you want to talk about . Then I was informed that you have to take responsibility of the government . I said , it is different . I said to him , have a conversation with you ? He said , there was a conversation . I said , OK , I 'll talk too , let's see what they say .

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He communicated ,I communicated .​​ I tried to convince them not to give me this responsibility . I have always shied away from this responsibility . It would not be right to take this responsibility . You are better than someone else Find out . They said , no sir, there is no one else . You have to take responsibility . I told them again , you search . After searching , tell me what happened . Then he told me , ok sir , I will tell you tomorrow . The next day he called again . He said , Sir , there is no way . You have to come . You have to take responsibility . Must come immediately .

Everything happened very quickly . i came back Sed

Did you understand so much before coming ?

Dr.​ Yunus : It was clearly understood after entering . Before I dimly understood that it was like this . But it is so broken , it is difficult to understand from outside . What was the purpose of the directive , what did it do and how was the money spent , why was the agreement made , various things . So how was the distribution of money ? The purpose of everything was to take it where you can , this is the opportunity. This is how it goes. We have no other way to come to order from that situation . So it is very difficult to bring it clean .

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The work is difficult and time consuming. Last August 8 at the airport , he said , your first job is to maintain law and order . Normalize the situation . How successful have you been in this case ?

Dr.​ Yunus : Trying . Still not successful . The law and order situation is still not normal . There are various explanations . Don't want to go into explanation . But still no improvement . It may have been a while . But it was not at the level it was supposed to be . So we will try our best to fix it first . This is the first job. If I don't do that , I ca n't do the rest .

Of course, the work is not so easy . The police force is broken . Now to reassure people with what ? Are you getting support from the administration ?

Dr.​ Yunus : There is all cooperation from above . But hear the rumours , sitting here secretly . We do n't care about them . If you listen to them , nothing can be done . As it is , we are going. Since we were not getting the full service of the police , we requested the army to come forward . They came forward . Then he said , we have no opportunity to work . For this, the topic of giving them magisterial powers came up. We also agreed . Initially I gave them two months to get magistracy . So that they can enter the field .

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Dr.​ Yunus : We thought , let 's see the first two months . If it seems to be working , then it should be increased . Hopefully , they will also agree . We want to move forward with this . But two months is a trial thing. Various types of anxiety also come. Does it constitute abuse of power ? One misuses power without understanding , then there is no point in blaming the army . If a member of the army , an officer does that , it will bring disrepute on the army . It will also come upon us , why did you give it . We want to see that too , they are trying to do it nicely .

You are working with the current advisory council . Are you satisfied with the progress of the work ?

Dr.​ Yunus : It depends on what you expect . Government is a great engine . This is the great engine we are trying to start . First we are trying with first gear , whether it can run or not. If it moves we will go to second gear , third gear . This is the point. We went into third gear in one step , went full speed , it was not possible . So we have to adjust that speed . Then I can go full speed . But if you give it more time , it does n't happen . We have to get down to business . There is a lot of work , endless work .

The speed you spoke about , a desire of people that visible initiative , speed so that they can see and understand . Such a situation . People have mixed reactions to this .

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Dr.​ Yunus : We also have mixed reactions . We are not very happy with what is happening . No one wants to go bumping into it . See, as soon as we can turn it on , we can move forward at normal speed , that is our effort.

No matter what is said on the face , inside everyone wants reform . Apart from this, there is no change . You 'll get through , your kids will get stuck . You have to fall back into this hole . The hole we came out of . The ruins from which we emerged , the ruins will be created again .

Prothom Alo : It is also a fact that it is not possible to solve so many accumulated problems quickly . But people still want to see that you 're trying .

Dr.​ Yunus : Something is going well . As everyone says something is going well in the banking sector . On the other hand, it is said that there is noise in the capital market . So one is good and the other is bad . One is getting better and the other is getting weaker

The chief adviser of the interim government . Muhammad Yunus photo : Zahidul Karim

Prothom Alo : A big change happened . Opportunities have come before . Ershad fall of '90 , few good elections , formation of caretaker government in 2007 etc.​ Still , not much has changed . We got an extremely autocratic government . We do n't study . Will we learn this time ? How optimistic are you ?

Dr.​ Yunus : I see it this way . A great opportunity has come in the life of our nation . Such an opportunity never came as described in the past . The students used a beautiful sentence and we all accept it . That is reform. In the past we did not go for reforms . Just moved from one government to another . This time a matter of reform has come and we have put it in front . This is the main point.

The main issue of this interim government is reforms. Anyone can vote at any time .​ Yes, I gave it according to the rules , someone stole the vote , grabbed it . But this is reform. Reform means that we will not allow a repeat of what happened in the past . For this, we may not be 100 percent as far as our intellect is concerned , but as close as possible , the entire nation must be united . Not by force . The interim government will not sit back and do anything . Will take everyone . You say , what if those things will not happen in the future , give those things . We convince everyone , we convince the political parties , what reforms do you want . But you will not get this opportunity again . Once the elected government comes , you will not get this opportunity . will not be possible Not legally possible . You can do it with us . Such as amending the constitution . ca n't You can do it with us . We will do your work . We are making a draft for you. For work convenience . Tear it up . Make another one . our another day I do with you

I have always said that the world needs to be left in the hands of the young . They are people from another world . We have detained them . Those of us who are older are stuck with old thoughts , old ideas , old structures .

Dr.​ Yunus : The first is the constitution , a big issue. The constitution must be amended . Judiciary needs to be reformed . Each of the six commissions I have done is important . We are bringing more commissions . You will get them in few days . You will actually see that many things we are giving. There are many things in mind . You have done a lot of writing . Just put a piece of paper in front of you and tell everyone how far you want to go . It will be as you decide .​ Our job is only to facilitate . We have this opportunity now . You created it . We did not create .

He spoke to Prothom Alo about the realization of people's dreams , the transition to democracy and the ongoing situation

Chief advisor Dr.​ Yunus

Chief Advisor Dr. Prothom Alo spoke about the realization of people's dreams , the transition to democracy and the ongoing situation . Yunus photo : Zahidul Karim

Are you optimistic about what you see around now ? How far can you go with the initiative of the commission with all the political parties ?

Dr.​ Yunus : I am one hundred percent optimistic. Because everyone wants reform . No matter what is said on the face , inside everyone wants reform . Apart from this, there is no change . You 'll get through , your kids will get stuck . You have to fall back into this hole . The hole we came out of . The ruins from which we emerged , the ruins will be created again . So correction is your responsibility , we are just facilitating .