Noman Chowdhury and Maksud Joarder

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  Western countries established Yunus as an ethical pillar of capitalism and which is why they are taking his side, said noted economists and academics of the country.

They also asked Yunus to refrain himself from involving foreign countries in the country’s internal affairs. The world capitalism especially the US has tried to give capitalism a human face through Yunus’s Grameen Bank (GB) model. It is they who established him as the ethical pillar of capitalism and very naturally the US government will try to save Yunus as he directly serves its national interest, said Prof Shahiduzzaman of International Relations of Dhaka University.

The relations between Bangladesh and western countries might deteriorate over the Yunus issue as the Bangladesh government was too late to take action against Yunus, said Shahiduzzaman adding that the government might have done it earlier as he has been under question for quite a long time.

Economist Anu Mohammad was highly critical of Yunus saying, “He is a citizen of Bangladesh. Even if the government makes any mistake about Yunus people of Bangladesh will talk about it not the foreigners.”

“It is not the government but the image of the country is being tarnished due to controversial role of Yunus,” he said adding that there are no beneficiaries of Yunus’s Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

“Instead of people of the country foreigners are taking his side to make the government’s decision controversial,” he noted.

He suggested that Prof Yunus should bring a stop to foreign intervention immediately for his own interest.

“The allegation of charging higher interest, unethical transfer of money and holding post for long has made the role of Grameen Bank as well as Dr Yunus controversial,” Dhaka University Political Science Department Prof Gias Uddin Molla told daily sun.

“The government has the authority to take action against the wrongdoers of GB as it is an organisation functioning within Bangladesh,” he said adding that the government was on the right track to take decision over the issue.

Dr Delwar Hossain who teaches International Relations at Dhaka University said the relation with the western world will depend on how the government handles the issue.

Prof Abdul Bayes of Jahangirnagar University, however, said the issue should have been solved in a dignified manner. And again it is not expected that a person like Dr Yunus should hold the position of MD of Grameen Bank forever.

Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday removed him from the post of managing director of Grameen Bank on the ground that GB board did not take approval from the authorities when it reappointed Yunus as MD on 12 March 1999 for an indefinite period, which violated the Grameen Bank Ordinance-1983.

After his elimination from country’s leading micro lending organisation envoys of western countries reacted at a meet with Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday at the latter’s office at the secretariat.

At the meeting US Ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty said the US government is deeply troubled at the removal of Prof Yunus through only a letter.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/06 Mar 2011