‘Come, let’s have a debate’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday aired her exasperation against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus once again and invited him to have a debate with her on any issue that concerns him.

“Come and have a debate with me like it is done in the USA,” she said while responding to a question during a press conference at the Gono Bhaban over the outcomes of her India visit.

“Let him come, and we will have a talk,” she said.

Hasina made the remarks after a journalist asked her to comment on an article published by the Time magazine on Prof Yunus on Monday, narrating the Nobel laureate’s legal perils in Bangladesh.

“It’s an open secret that Hasina is consumed with jealousy that Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize given her repeated snubs,” the article read.

The prime minister opposed the assertion, saying she does not care for any Nobel Prize, nor does she have “sufficient money for appointing lobbyists” to land the prize.

“Sheikh Hasina is not jealous of anyone,” she said.

The PM said she is proud that she is the daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “No one can get this position. I’m proud of it,” she said, adding that the prime ministership was temporary.

She said the Grameen Bank was not founded by Yunus; he used to work there as its managing director and drew salaries.

“You might remember that the Grameen Bank was set up during the tenure of General HM Ershad. There was a position for MD, and Dr Yunus was made the MD of the bank.”

The Grameen Bank is a statutory body and the money and salaries were all paid by the government, she said, adding, “During his service, he [Yunus] portrayed the bank in a way as if he founded the bank.”

Hasina said he attempted to float a party in 2007.

“So why did he fail to float the political party? If he has given so much to the rural people, then why did those people not come forward? It was because they were under the huge burden of interest,” she said.

Hasina said Yunus got benefits from her the most, and now he is running a propaganda against her.

“It is true, we promoted him a lot.”

Hasina said, “I helped him the most in getting to the place where he is today.”

She said she promoted microcredit at home and abroad, thinking it was  good for poverty alleviation.

“His microcredit was not much credible globally. I participated as a co-chair [in Microcredit Summit], brought a proposal before the United Nations and explained it to everyone because I thought it was a good move to lift people out of poverty.”

She said she eventually realised that microcredit was nurturing poverty instead, and the poor people after working day and night needed to pay high interests.

Stating that she gave Yunus the business of Grameenphone, the premier said she helped the Grameen Bank survive by giving it Tk 400 crore in the 90s.

But he did not give a single penny to the bank from the business of Grameenphone, she added.

The prime minister said Grameen Telecom received a lot of donations from abroad, but how much of it went into the Grameen Bank? “Every time, he started a new business with the money,” she said.

Hasina blasted Yunus also for failing to pay taxes. She said whenever cases were lodged against him for dodging taxes, Yunus paid some money and proved he had indeed evaded tax.

She said Yunus had not paid any money to the labour welfare fund since 2006. So, the Grameen Bank employees filed a case against him at the labour court, and he was convicted in the case.

“What is my fault here?” she said.

The prime minister said that whenever the labourers placed their demands or wanted promotion, they were sacked.

“[So] they [labourers] filed a case. I didn’t even know this. And he was convicted in the Labour Court. Don’t the labourers have any right? Those who talk about labour and human rights, where are they now? Why are they silent? Have they stood beside the labourers? They did not.”

She wanted to know the source of money that Yunus invested abroad.

“There was so much investment abroad. Where did the money come from? Whose money was it, and how was the money earned? No one is asking these questions. Let him answer it.”

Hasina said she always protects the interests of the country. “I never sell the country or the interests of the country [to anyone]. And that’s why I could not come to power many times.”

She said she always works to protect the country’s independence and sovereignty, and for the people so that they can move ahead raising their heads high.