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Underlining that the situation in Bangladesh was due to the “absence of democracy”, and cautioning that the turmoil will “spill over” to the neighbouring countries as well, Nobel laureate and Grameen bank founder Professor Muhammad Yunus has said that India’s position on the protests — calling it Bangladesh’s internal matter — “hurts”.

The 84-year-old, who has had a frosty relationship with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and is facing cases of alleged corruption in Bangladesh courts — charges he has denied — spoke to The Indian Express over Zoom from Paris, where he is an advisor for the Olympic Games 2024. Edited excerpts:

What has led to the current situation in Bangladesh?

I think it has a very simple explanation… it is the absence of democracy. There is no communication between the people and the government, because the government has not been elected for many, many years now, for three terms (in January, Sheikh Hasina secured a record fourth straight term in an election boycotted by the Opposition).

Today, the government feels that they are all powerful because they are all powerful. They control, I shouldn’t say ‘they’, I should say ‘she’, because there is no ‘they’ here in Bangladesh. It is one country, one party, one leader, one narrative country. You cannot deviate from any one of these formulations. The moment you deviate from that, you’re in serious trouble. I’m in trouble forever, since the Hasina government is in power.

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News Voiced and Reported by: Soha.M

Sources: Reuters | USA News | AP

Genre: Current Affairs | Geo-Politics | USA Politics