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00:00Let's start with the news in Bangladesh, this evening entering a new phase, its Prime Minister has fled the country.
00:06Sheikh Hasina resigned before heading straight to Dhaka airport.
00:10She left behind her an angry mob of protesters storming her official residence.
00:14Sheikh Hasina ruled Bangladesh since 2009.
00:18The protests began against corruption on the awarding of key jobs across the country.
00:23Cronyism became an endemic problem.
00:25Many of the demonstrators were highly qualified people who had no access to improving themselves in the workplace.
00:31Now, the next step appears to be a military interim government,
00:34while the US and the UK are leading calls for democratic transition.
00:42An appeal for calm from the street.
00:45The army chief in Bangladesh spoke to the nation in a televised address.
00:49General Waqar-Uz-Zaman announced an interim government would be formed
00:53while confirming reports Sheikh Hasina had resigned.
00:57The Honorable Prime Minister has resigned.
01:00Now, we will form an interim government and continue our work to lead the country.
01:06Through the interim government, all the functioning of the country will take place.
01:12Out on the streets of the capital, Dhaka, jubilant crowds waved flags and took pictures with army personnel.
01:19This after the Prime Minister's residence was stormed after crowds grew in numbers, overwhelming security.
01:26Demonstrators removed articles of furniture and danced in celebration.
01:32The latest development out of Bangladesh caps weeks of unrest.
01:37Student-led demonstrations kicked off last month over a controversial quota system on over half of government jobs,
01:44reserved for certain groups including descendants of freedom fighters.
01:48But that quickly spiralled into a campaign to oust the Prime Minister.
01:52A heavy-handed crackdown under Sheikh Hasina's watch resulted in nearly 300 people killed
01:58and the eventual downfall of the Prime Minister herself.
02:01This is not just the end of the tyrant Sheikh Hasina.
02:05With this, we put an end to the mafia state that she has created.
02:09Everyone is happy, everyone is cheerful, everyone is celebrating.
02:13On Monday, Sheikh Hasina boarded a helicopter for neighboring India.
02:17The 76-year-old fleeing Bangladesh a day after nearly 100 people were killed,
02:22the bloodiest day since the recent unrest began.
02:27Let's get the first of our reactions to the situation in Bangladesh.
02:31Welcome to the studio, Mohammad Yunus. Mohammad Yunus is a Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2006.
02:36The man is referred to as the people's banker because he invented microfinance.
02:40Thank you, sir, for joining us here. It's a pleasure to have you in.
02:43And I imagine there are plenty of things going on in your mind right now about what's happening in your home country.
02:48What's your take on the situation?
02:50This is a day of great celebration for us.
02:53We had the independence from Pakistan on 16th of December 1971.
03:00We celebrated it, a big job rejoicing for everybody that we are free, we are independent and so on.
03:06So there was a liberation day. Today, we feel like the second liberation day.
03:11We are free from all the oppression, all the attack that we had, all the mismanagement, all the corruption.
03:17So everybody now on the street, millions and millions of young people on the street, everywhere in Bangladesh.
03:23It's not Dhaka city, it's not a Dhaka city based eruption. It's a complete country.
03:28It's something right across the country.
03:29Right across the country, every single town.
03:31And this comes from, is it just Sheikh Hasina's rule or is there a whole structure behind her that's created the problem?
03:37Sheikh Hasina is the key to the whole problem.
03:40She made it so that you refuse to give people the right to vote.
03:45She had fake election one after another. Bangladesh has 170 million people.
03:50Two thirds of the population are young people.
03:53And they never had a chance to go to election booth to cast their vote.
03:57These are the young people who want to do things.
03:59And they're full of energy, full of creative power.
04:01They're connected with the rest of the world because of the communication technology today.
04:06But they cannot select their representative in the parliament.
04:09They cannot participate in the elective process because there is no election.
04:12Nothing happens. So a one person rule.
04:15It's a one person rule, one party, one kind of policies they pursue.
04:23And you have to abide by it, follow that.
04:25If you deviate a little bit, you have a big serious trouble.
04:28So one wonders how this has been allowed to continue.
04:31But the big upshot, of course, was the protests which began just a few weeks ago
04:36about issues regarding allocation of jobs. That's how it was first reported.
04:40But then as you delved a bit deeper, clearly this aspect of cronyism, favouritism
04:45and allocation of jobs by who you know, not what you know, became really the focus of what was going on.
04:50People looking to really change that situation.
04:53This started with a very simple proposition, like what you said.
04:56They are sufferers. 56% of the jobs are under quota system.
05:01So you're married to your work.
05:02A quota system. So that is basically, it's like a family thing.
05:05A particular group of people who get these jobs and so on.
05:08So 56% is reserved for them.
05:10So there's very little left for everybody else who have worked hard,
05:13but they don't fall into that quota, the reserved seats for them.
05:17So they rebuilt.
05:18So the demonstrators that we've been seeing very often,
05:22we're looking at people who are highly qualified in a normal society,
05:26in a democracy, wouldn't be out on the streets.
05:29Absolutely. These are the people who tomorrow become the civil service person,
05:33the civil servants. They will be running the country.
05:35They are mature now, about to appear in the exam, but their seats are blocked.
05:40They cannot go because the amount kept for them is a very limited one.
05:44Interim government could be a military government.
05:46The UK, the US is calling for democratic transition.
05:49That's something they can call for from afar.
05:51Were they calling for that nine years ago, ten years ago? I don't know.
05:54Maybe they're just happy that things continued as they were.
05:57But with what happens next, you must have concerns about that.
06:00Celebrations are going on. People are going through that.
06:03But at the same time, we need a government because the government collapsed.
06:07It doesn't exist anymore. Hasina has left the country.
06:10So how does it happen? We have interim government announced right now.
06:14The concept of interim government who will be responsible for holding election
06:18because we didn't have an election for many years now.
06:20So for the first time, it will be an election, fair, transparent election
06:24so that everybody can vote and decide what kind of people they want to send
06:28to the government, what kind of people they want to the parliament.
06:31This is their decision. That decision, they couldn't exercise that power
06:34to make choices for them. So this is a big opening.
06:38And then down those things, local governments and everything, same way.
06:42The people will have a chance to elect their own representative.
06:45So this is a chance now for Bangladesh to actually construct a democratic future.
06:49Yes. We want to have a pure democratic system where nobody can interfere
06:54with our right to vote, right to speak, right to rule of law.
06:59Muhammad Yunus, I see you as a possible leader.
07:01I don't know whether you have any ambitions along those lines.
07:04No, I don't have that ambition because I'm dedicated to the work that I do.
07:07I hopefully continue, but I was restricted by the Hasina regime.
07:12I was accused of many things, funny things that she can come up with.
07:17So I'm running from one court to the other court fighting those false cases.
07:21And that was one of the tactics used by the old regime.
07:23Always, always.
07:24To use the legal system to stymie people's ambitions.
07:27Exactly.
07:28That sounds like a terrible system to have to live through.
07:31Terrible. That's why the rejoices are coming out everywhere.
07:34Everybody's happy that finally we're free.
07:36And corruption at every stage. Massive corruption.
07:39Corruption by the head of the army. Corruption by the head of police.
07:42Corruption by every single institution.
07:44Even the office boy of an office makes millions of dollars by corruption.
07:50Corrupt practices and so on. Nothing gets done.
07:52So simply say, well, we'll take care of it. We'll find a way.
07:56Can I ask you a question, Muhammad, about the things that are made in Bangladesh?
08:00If you look at any sort of fast fashion clothing line, you'll often see made in Bangladesh.
08:04That's right, yeah.
08:05Has there been some kind of complicity by the West in what has been going on?
08:10Not asking too many questions about what happens in Bangladesh.
08:12Oh, as long as we get the products we don't really mind, we'll let that go.
08:15Yes, we are feeling sorry for that.
08:17But some of the things that they pay attention, attention to the environmental issues,
08:21attention to labour rights and so on.
08:23But there's only a small segment of the population.
08:26It's a bigger problem behind that.
08:27Bigger problem behind the participation of the people.
08:29And the key, as you said, was Sheikh Hasina. What should happen to her right now, do you think?
08:33She left the country.
08:34We hear she's fleeing.
08:35She's fleeing. Don't know where she'll end up with.
08:38She is right now, she is in Delhi, we are told.
08:40But from there, she's looking for a place where to go.
08:43We were told it could be London.
08:45But Bangladeshi people want her to be in Bangladesh so that she can be tried for all the offences she has committed.
08:52Because that was the question I was coming to.
08:54You feel she should come back to Bangladesh and face justice.
08:56She should, yeah.
08:57That's part of the process.
08:58What about her main enablers, her main helplers within Bangladeshi society?
09:03Are they still there?
09:04They're still there.
09:05Many of them, the ministers and others, flee from the country.
09:08The supporters are hiding because they know they are complicit with the prime minister and the group that is around the country.
09:17So they will be trying to escape from the country to save themselves.
09:22So this is the kind of situation which we'll go through.
09:26What do you think the future holds for Bangladesh?
09:29Clearly, there is this reconstruction which needs to happen.
09:32But there is obviously potential.
09:34You talked about the young people who have this hunger to get on.
09:37They have this energy to create.
09:39And part of that has created what has happened in the forcing out of Sheikh Hasina.
09:42What do you see as the future of your country?
09:45Bangladesh is an amazing country, amazingly creative country.
09:48Young people are full of creativity, full of enthusiasm.
09:51They want to do things at the global level, not just country level, the global level.
09:55They compete at the global level.
09:56They excel in everything they do.
09:58So it's an amazing future for them.
10:00It's full of young people and full of energy, full of creative power.
10:05And if given a chance, given the opportunity to take care of themselves, they can do wonderful things.
10:10And Bangladesh has achieved lots of good things in the past.
10:13You are a man of vision.
10:14You had the vision to create the microfinance.
10:16You've been awarded a Nobel Prize.
10:19Someone whose thoughts and actions reflect the good things that people internationally recognize as helpful to humanity and society.
10:27Where would you want to take Bangladesh from here?
10:30Do you feel that the West can come in and help with matters?
10:33Does its position in the world sort of geographically give it a sort of leaning towards, say, China, India?
10:40What do you see as Bangladesh's natural allies and natural development?
10:45The idea that I always promote, this creative young people that we have in the country, they provide the leadership, creating a new world for the whole world.
10:54So they will be the frontier of the new move to create that.
10:59And that world will be a world of three zeros.
11:01Zero net carbon emission, zero wealth concentration and zero unemployment.
11:06And they are ready to do.
11:08They are ready to create things which will be followed by everybody else.
11:12Bangladesh has created microcredits, followed by the whole world.
11:15Bangladesh created the social business, now followed everywhere in the world.
11:19I'm here in Paris because of Olympic.
11:22We have given the idea to turn Olympic as a social business Olympic.
11:27So we brought that idea from Bangladesh to create this idea that we applied in Paris, Paris 2024.
11:34Then we are followed, we are invited by Milano-Cortino Olympics, Winter Olympic 2026 to bring this idea of social business Olympic.
11:41So Bangladesh has given leadership to the whole world in many different areas.
11:45Many different things are waiting for young people to get in and make this happen.
11:49What you're describing sounds like a kind of social, excuse the word I'm going to use, nirvana.
11:55A kind of place where everybody can find their place and get their chance.
11:59Yes, absolutely.
12:00Is that possible?
12:01It's possible.
12:02They are as good as anybody else.
12:04They want to show their creative power, look at each other, compete with each other.
12:08They are not just Bangladeshi young people.
12:10They are the global young people.
12:12They feel that.
12:13They can lead the global young people.
12:14And do you see that being helped by investment from the West, investment from other partners?
12:19Who would those partners be, do you think?
12:21There are lots of partners who helped in the process and so on.
12:24But they have to depend on themselves.
12:27It has to be a Bangladeshi-led issue.
12:30And that's where we are emphasizing on.
12:32We have enough resources to build things for ourselves.
12:35Mohamed Yunus, it's been a pleasure meeting you.
12:37Thank you, sir.
12:38It's a great time for your country and a great time for you.
12:40And thank you for sharing your thoughts with us here at France 24.
12:43We appreciate you coming into our studio.
12:45And we appreciate you sharing what you feel and think with us.
12:48It's been a pleasure to meet you, sir.
12:50Thank you for inviting me.
12:51Mohamed Yunus, Nobel Prize winner 2006, the man who invented microfinance.
12:54And as you hear, a very proud and happy this evening Bangladeshi citizen.
12:58Pleasure to meet you, sir.
12:59Thank you very much indeed.
13:00We will bring you more on events in Bangladesh as we go through the program.