Please don't resign: An appeal to Prof Yunus

Every beat of my patriotic heart, every spark of my nation building energy, every iota of my common sense, every conclusion of my rational thinking compels me to most ardently, passionately and humbly appeal to Prof Yunus not to resign from the position of holding the helm of the nation at this crucial time. He may have all the frustrations in the world but his sense of responsibility as the head of the government must outweigh every other emotion, consideration and conclusion. We know and believe that he loves Bangladesh in which case resignation is not his option but holding the helm is. Leading the country firmly, effectively and decisively till the next election is his only option and something for which people and this country will remain forever grateful to him. He must decide to stay the course and we, the media, will support him all the way. However independent media's form of support, which is its moral duty, is to present alternatives, multiple views and analyses, including the unpalatable ones.

His life-long service for the poor through microcredit -- a poverty alleviation idea that the world accepted and replicated -- which not only made "credit a right" but also opened up the possibility of unleashing the entrepreneurial urge of every human being and make them self-employed; his basic urge to build a less unequal society through social business and his dream of building a sustainable planet through implementing "Three Zeros" made him the darling of the world and an iconic figure of the future.

But none of the above -- along with the laurels, the large number of globally coveted medals, the plethora of the honorary "doctorates", the endless streams of accolades -- prepared him for even one day's running of the government.

Normally running a government is difficult. Running the government of a country like Bangladesh is even more so and running it after dismantling a government that destroyed literally every institution of governance -- parliament, judiciary, police, bureaucracy, intelligence agencies etc -- is almost absurdly difficult. It is at that moment Prof Yunus answered the call of the students which, in effect, represented the call of the whole nation. Thus, he was welcomed overwhelmingly especially because people wanted a way out from the dark abyss in which we appeared to have fallen with no end in sight.

Students dug the tunnel, political activists held the lamps, people joined in streams and gave their lives and we suddenly saw the dawn. It was at that moment that Prof Yunus appeared to steward our future. Given his global standing and his personal acceptability he appeared as our saviour. But he should have set his "terms" as he accepted his insurmountable task. He should have demanded that while he would serve the "new generation" -- they are not all-knowing and all-wise as they later started to be -- and that they will also have to listen to him. As he stepped into the muddy waters of running a government and murky environment of politics he lost touch with the world of reality and became totally swayed and enamoured by those whom he called "his employers".

This is not the time to pass any judgement on Yunus's government but suffice it to say that 10 months is not a short time for a government whose very name, "interim", suggests the transitory nature of its tenure. He chose an inexperienced -- not all of them -- team and did not run it like a hands-on commander. Crucially, some of his advisers got too used to power and started focusing on extending its tenure rather than finishing the task in hand. An unnecessary dichotomy was created between "reforms" and "election" which this paper consistently stated that both were possible within the time frame of December '25.

As of now we have consensus between the major political parties on some major issues like independence of judiciary, bicameral legislature, reconfiguration of power of the PM and president, two consecutive terms for the PM, etc. These are not trivial reforms. To these, some can still be added and an impressive charter for July can be made.

Regrettably a serious gap has been created between the biggest existing party, BNP, and the interim government which should not be allowed to widen further. We believe that Prof Yunus -- unlike some of his advisers -- is fully committed to elections not beyond June. A discussion between him and the BNP leadership can bring the two sides closer. Widening this gap cannot be good for either side as other disruptive elements are waiting in the wings.

Outline below is what may be considered as some of the immediate steps:

-- Hold a meeting of major political parties and declare an election date. What has been said months ago  -- Dec '25 to June '26 -- needs to be updated.

-- Reshuffle and re-orient the cabinet to deliver some specific goals within the time frame agreed to by political parties.

-- Call the chiefs of the three forces and reduce the gap that appears to exist. The army chief's complaint of not engaging the armed forces on national security issues deserves the CA's attention and can be clarified easily as the former is fully committed to a democratic transition. The "corridor" issue should not be outlined with lightly and the confusion it created cannot and should not be brushed aside.

We conclude with the plea that Prof Yunus remain the man of the hour and he cannot and should not abandon the nation at this stage. He has to lead us to the election and power transfer to an elected government. We are willing to accept the blame that may be the media and the people have failed to fully appreciate what Prof Yunus has achieved in the last 10 months but he must equally be open to admit that his government has indeed made some serious mistakes. He has to recognise that Bangladesh, in recent months, appears more and more like a country without law and order, where street demonstrations and obstructions of traffic for a few days are the way to get your demand whether justified or otherwise, where business people are suffering from lack of confidence and that hardly much investment has occurred in spite of the showmanship of an engaging presenter.

This is the moment of truth for Prof Yunus. It is unlike anything he has faced ever in his illustrious life. We request him to consider that no political party has yet demanded his departure save a section of the students -- whom he has given all his support -- who showed the temerity of saying "Remember we brought you to power and we can remove you also". We still have faith in him, believe in him and trust him. But Prof Yunus has to realise that if things have not gone the way he wished and for getting them back on the right track, he needs to reform his team and reconsider the methods he has so far applied. Heads of governments always do so. There is nothing wrong in it and it definitely should not be taken personally.