Students are preparing to form a political party and are organizing people across Bangladesh, Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus has told the Financial Times in an interview.
During his recent visit to Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Yunus spoke on a podcast hosted by Gideon Rachman, the British daily’s chief foreign affairs commentator. The conversation, which took place in the Rachman Review podcast, was published in written form on Thursday.
When asked about the upcoming general election in Bangladesh, the chief adviser said the two possible election timings he had mentioned were good options. “This is a good time because always I’m protecting the unity of the nation. I do not want to depart from that.”
In this context, he said one possibility was that students themselves would form a party.
Yunus mentioned that when his cabinet was being formed, he included three students in his advisory council. “I said, if they can give life for the country, they can sit in the cabinet and decide what is that they are giving life for. And they are doing good work.”
Highlighting the students' growing interest in forming a political party, he added: “Now the students are saying, why don’t you form your our own political party, we’ll take a chance.
“And they said, you have no chance. You don’t even get one seat in the parliament. Why? Because nobody knows you. I said the whole nation knows them. Let them take a chance, whatever they want to do. So they will do it.”
However, he also cautioned that in the process of forming a party, they might “fall apart.” Because once they entered politics, all sorts of politicians would try to associate with them, Yunus added.
“So we don’t know whether they can remove themselves from the politics that we have in the country. This is the kind of chance we have to take. But the students are ready. They are campaigning. They are organizing throughout the country.”
At this point in the podcast, the host raised a concern that some Indians believed Bangladesh was in a very fragile state. “Yunus may not be okay, but there are Islamists who are going to take the country over. What do you say to that?”
In response, Yunus said: “We don’t see such signs. At least I don’t see any such signs.
“Young people are really committed. They have not a touch of ill will or a personal desire to make a political career for themselves. They are joining or creating political party under the circumstances. This is needed because they have to protect the things they have earned by their blood.
“Otherwise, they will be taken away by all the people who are looking for opportunity to repeat the previous kind of administration and so on. That’s our political kind of environment with Bangladesh. So they are trying to protect that. So I would say students will have transparent intentions.”