Students-led military backed unconstitutional interim government of Dr. Mohammed Yunus should hold the national election not later then March, 2025. If it delays, Bangladesh economy will face economic stagnation and increasing hunger and poverty leading to more uncertainty and lawlessness. He suggested that election to be held either in end of 2025 or beginning of 2026. The Election Commission said that the updating of voter list would be ready by next two months. Those who have no faith in democracy, they prefer to govern the country by executive ordinances that have no support of the people. In fact, the delay will create more uncertainties and complications.

Although four months have elapsed, the Yunus government failed to stabilize the situation as lawlessness and anarchy is still wild and pervasive. Because of uncertainty and lawlessness, hundreds of factories and business houses have closed down causing large-scale joblessness and increasing theft, murder and criminal activities. Due to uncertainties, MODI downgraded its credit rating for Bangladesh.

Reportedly, as thousands of policemen were mercilessly killed after Sheikh Hasina’s downfall by radical terrorists and jehadis, and as Yunus government hurriedly granted “indemnity“ to the killers, the newly appointed policeforce are hesitant to take actions. They have become ineffective. No wonder, realizing that the police are ineffective, he deployed military forces for maintaining law and order but their operations are limited. Everyday new dead bodies are unearthed all across the country owing to mob injustice, rivalries, or violence. No wonder, Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, a Russian economist, and a top adviser to Dr. Yunus remarked, ‘if economic uncertainty is not improved, reforms could not take place’. Chances of improvement of economy and security is still uncertain.

International lenders like IMF, World Bank and ADB that predicted a GDP growth rate for Bangladesh for 2025 at around 6.8% and now downgraded their estimates to 3.8%, a cause for alarm. The past government expected it to be 6.75% and they initiated varieties programs to achieve it. Since the interim government took over all development works are basically at halt because of indecision and also as revenue intake has dropped.

Maybe that’s why Dr. Yunus said publicly that “gods and goddesses have curse on him” and as a result, whatever he undertakes that becomes a failure. His much celebrated micro credit or Grameen Bank program as per noted economist Dr. Quazi Koliquzzaman’s findings failed its borrowers to improve their lifestyles. When he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he hoped that the poverty would vanish and it would only be available in the museums. Unfortunately, since his crusade against poverty in 2006, it has increased from 300 million to over 900 millions now. Neither his “social business” flourished either. Following SDGs of 2015, he developed his “3-zeros strategy” in 2017; ‘zero hunger, zero unemployment and zero carbon emission’. It sounds great but there is no prescription as to how to achieve these and who would provide how much money for his three zeros.

Because of his global reputation and hoping to have massive aid flow from the Biden administration as Yunus’ relationship with him was solid, a group of young Bangladeshi students picked him as the Head of Interim government of Bangladesh in last August. Since then, an emerging country like Bangladesh that earned global accolades as a “model of economic development“ (UN ) and a “standard bearer of the South” (Wall Street Journal) is facing economic decline due to uncertainty and lawlessness leading to closure of factories, business houses and consequently, rapid rise of unemployment. More importantly, Yunus government failed to improve nation’s inflation which is now around 12% or double digit and consequently poverty has increased by a wide margin.

In order to protect poor people from poverty, the past government introduced social protection programs. Under this program, those who were extremely poor, nearly 500,000 families used to get essential food items at ‘free of cost’ and another 10 million poor people used to get essential food items at affordable prices. As a result, although inflation was high, less than the present one, yet the poorer people were not as badly affected as they are today.

As per a recent study by RAPID, a research group, inflation has pushed an additional 7.8 million people into poverty with 3.8 million slipping into extreme poverty. A further 10 million are at the risk of falling below the poverty line if current inflation continues. This is a very distressing picture and it may fail Bangladesh to achieve its goal of a hunger-free, poverty-free country by 2030.

The past government of Sheikh Hasina introduced a number welfare programs such as monthly allowances for elderly and jobless people, widowers, lactating mothers, freedom fighters, disabled and disadvantaged people, free houses for homeless, etc. These programs helped the poorer people to have an improved living and country’s poverty went down from 42% in 2006 to 18% and extreme poverty from 24% to 5.6% in 2022. Now those programs have been disrupted and therefore, their life have become miserable. And when floods occurred which is common in Bangladesh, instead of supporting the victims and providing them fund for rehabilitation and reconstruction, his government even the student leaders of the 2024-movement, known as “Bishommo-Birodi” group kept the public donations for flood victims in their bank accounts instead of distributing to the needy. Now the Saudi government is trying to rebuild a few flood affected houses.

Because of government’s negligence and destruction of all traditional well established local institutions like the elected local governments, chairmen, councils, mayors’ offices, and members of parliament those used to take keen interest to help the victims are either in jails or fugitives of false cases. Therefore, in absence of these institutions and officials, the government is failing to provide adequate services.
At present, as it appears, Yunus government’s only job is filling false and fabricated cases against thousands of innocent people in order to extort money, and appointing commissions for reforms.
In addition, abuse the activist judiciary to achieve its goals.

Critics argue that in the name reforms this Interim Government is trying to delay the holding of national election and also trying to depoliticize and weaken the political parties and the process. Critics further argue that reforms are a dynamic process and an elected government or people’s representatives should undertake reforms. Otherwise they may not be sustainable. During 2007-2008, the military-backed Caretaker government of Dr. Fakruddin Ahmed initiated and started implementing many credible reforms. But those did not sustain. If history is a lesson at all, they argue that reforms under Dr. Yunus government would face the same fate as before. Therefore, they should concentrate on holding a free, fair, participatory and credible election maybe under the UN supervision as soon as possible, and not later than Spring, 2025.

If we follow historical evidence, these type of emergency interim governments where media is restricted are a black hole in the nation’s development process. Cross-country statistics prove it again and again. Therefore, the shorter the period of interim government, it is better for democracy and for the welfare of the nation and people. Once US Senator Edward M. Kennedy said, ‘democracy is a dynamic process and it matures only through practicing democracy, not otherwise’.

Dr. Yunus floated his political party “People’s Power” in 2006 after receiving his Nobel Prize, and it miserably failed. If he is really interested for reforms, let him contest in the upcoming national election and once he gets people’s mandate, let him initiate reforms.