India must keep faith in Muhammad Yunus

Like many other global powers, India has also sent out its best wishes to the octogenarian Muhammad Yunus as the head of the interim government in Bangladesh, following disturbances that marked the end of the 15-year reign of ‘elected’ Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. India’s statement is a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, brief and formal, yet significant. This is just the beginning of the process of building relations with the new regime amid a charged political scenario, and a new set of challenges in India-Bangladesh ties. For one, Hasina is sheltering in India, with the highest level of support and protection from the government. She is hated in Bangladesh, which wants to hold her to account whereas New Delhi must continue to cover for her as a long-standing friend of India. 

So, the relationship with the new dispensation in Bangladesh starts with a bone of contention. This is made even more difficult by Yunus’ early statement that he was hurt that India did not come out in support of the student protests against Hasina by calling it an internal matter of Bangladesh. Yunus went on to say: “If there is a fire in the brother’s house, how can I say it is an internal affair…”. This was probably a frank and apolitical outburst, unrestrained by diplomatic boundaries, and came before he took over as head of the interim government. Now that he holds power, Yunus will appreciate that commenting on the internal affairs of another nation is a diplomatic minefield. The attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh and the insecurities they have brought complicate matters even more.

But all that is in the past and the fact that Yunus has settled in to lead the neighbouring nation on popular demand should be a cause for celebration not only in Bangladesh but across the region. It is a tribute to the maturity of the military, the broad Bangladeshi establishment, and the student protestors that they have chosen a tall leader to head the interim government. India, too, needs to put all the initial chaos and worry behind, and embrace every opportunity to stand up for Yunus, who is a Nobel laureate noted for his work with the poor and for his passion for justice, equity, and empowerment of women. 

Yunus also stands out for having highlighted the failures of a warped notion of capitalism that has harmed the West, and brought disaster to all manner of its copycat models in the East. He is among the few who have spoken in a clear voice against greed, exploitation, and selfishness of the order that not only fails to answer the needs of our times but also harms both the poor and rich equally. 

Further, Yunus has been quick to stand up against violence faced by minorities in Bangladesh during and after the uprising, going as far as to ask: “Are they (minorities) not the people of this country? You (students) have been able to save this country; can’t you save some families? You must say, ‘No one can harm them. They are my brothers; we fought together, and we will stay together’.” The remarks to students came over the weekend at the Begum Rokeya University in the city of Rangpur. 

There can be no doubt that Yunus stands with secular credentials, and these will work to bring calm and reassure minorities who have been under attack over the last 10 days or so. There is an urgent need in India to curb some politically inspired, Right-wing tilted social media content painting initial violence in Bangladesh as a growing or deteriorating Hindu-Muslim divide. India must keep faith in the leadership of Yunus and offer him support wherever needed.

Yet, this will be a delicate task that may test India much more than Bangladesh. This is because the secular credo of Yunus and a pro-poor agenda that has defined his work and his life pose a unique political challenge to the agenda of Right-wing politics that holds centre stage in India. The Indian statement offering wishes to Yunus on taking office spoke of ‘safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities’. Yunus has been vocally speaking against attacks on Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Ahmadiyyas, and others, saying the students have the responsibility to protect everyone. Similarly, when Yunus speaks on wealth inequality, the issues he raises are precisely the kind of issues that have plagued India and bring questions that have brought discomfort to the BJP in the context of growing income and wealth inequality in India.

In his book A World of Three Zeros, Yunus, who is the founder of Grameen Bank, writes: ‘If human beings truly fit the mould of the ‘Capitalist Man’, the borrowers from trust-based banks would simply default … Grameen Bank would quickly cease to exist. Its long-term success demonstrates the fact that the ‘Real Man’ is a very different — and much better — creature than the ‘Capitalist Man’. Nonetheless, many economists, business leaders, and government experts continue to think and act as if the ‘Capitalist Man’ is real, and as if selfishness is the only motivation behind human behaviour … they perpetuate economic, social, and political systems that encourage selfishness and make it more difficult for people to practice the selfless, trusting behaviours millions of them instinctively prefer.’

This is the space from which spring the ideas of meaningful growth and sustainability. In that, we can all learn from Yunus, and work with new models rooted in the needs and aspirations of ‘real man’ while we collectively reject the concocted ideas of the ‘capitalist man’.

(The writer is a journalist and faculty member at SPJIMR. Views are personal) (Syndicate: The Billion Press)