Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been sworn in as Bangladesh’s interim leader, vowing to “uphold, support and protect the constitution”.
The 84-year-old took an oath at the presidential palace in Dhaka with more than a dozen members of his new cabinet, vowing to perform his duties “sincerely”.
He flew into the capital, Dhaka, just days after Sheikh Hasina – the woman who ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years – fled across the border to India.
Ms Hasina resigned as prime minister after weeks of student-led protests – which left hundreds dead – escalated and culminated in calls for her to stand down.
The decision to name Prof Yunus the interim government’s chief adviser followed a meeting between President Mohammed Shahabuddin, military leaders, and student leaders.
The students had been clear they would not accept a military-led government but wanted Prof Yunus to lead.
Among his new cabinet members are Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, students who led the anti-government protests.
The hope is Prof Yunus, the so-called banker for the poor, will bring democracy back to Bangladesh after years of autocratic rule.
“People are excited,” the entrepreneur and economist told the BBC moments after arriving in Dhaka from France on Thursday.
He later told reporters that Bangladesh “has got a second independence” as he called for restoring law and order in the nation of 170 million people.
Following Prof Yunus’s swearing-in, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his “best wishes,” writing on X/Twitter that his government was “committed” to working with its neighbour for “peace, security and development.”
Prof Yunus paid tribute to those who died, saying they had “protected the nation” and given it “new life” after Ms Hasina’s rule.
Hasina began her rule as a symbol of democracy, but by the time she fled, she was considered an autocrat who sought to entrench her authority by silencing dissent.
Prisons were filled with people who sought to speak out against her. Prof Yunus – lauded for his pioneering use of micro-loans – was one of those who found themselves in legal trouble during her tenure.
Ms Hasina regarded him as a public enemy – he is currently on bail, appealing against a six-month jail term in what he has called a politically-motivated case.
On Thursday, he called on the country’s young people to help him rebuild the South Asian nation.
“Bangladesh can be a beautiful country, but we destroyed the possibilities,” he said.
“Now we have to build a seedbed again – they will build the new seedbed,” he added, gesturing towards the students who had arrived to greet him.
Protests began as peaceful demands to abolish quotas in civil service jobs. More than 400 people are reported to have died after protests seeking to repeal the quota system for civil service jobs began in July.
A third of these jobs are reserved for relatives of veterans from Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan, which took place in 1971. Campaigners argued the system was discriminatory and needed to be overhauled.
Though this demand was met mainly after the Supreme Court backed the students’ needs and vastly reduced the scale of the quota system, the protests then transformed into a broader anti-government movement fueled by crackdowns.
Bangladeshi media and demonstrators blamed the police for the spiralling death toll. Officials maintained that officers only opened fire for self-defence or to protect state property.
Students and their supporters had planned to march on the prime minister’s residence on Monday.
But before the march could properly move, the news came that Sheikh Hasina had fled Bangladesh and resigned as prime minister. She is currently in Delhi.
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