Bangladesh’s interim government head Muhammad Yunus did not want former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to address the people of Bangladesh or their Awami League supporters from Indian soil. Yunus revealed it in a conversation at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
‘Urged PM Modi to prevent Hasina from addressing Bangladeshis’
Yunus said that he took the matter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to stop her from addressing the people of Bangladesh. He said, “The whole anger and everything is now transferred to India because she went there. Not only is she living there, but the problem is, when I had a chance to talk to Prime Minister Modi, I just simply said, ‘You want to host her? I cannot force you to abandon that policy, but please help us in making sure she doesn’t speak to Bangladeshi people, the way she is doing.”
‘Whole of Bangladesh gets very angry’
The interim government head said, “ She announces on such and such day at such and such hour, she will speak, and the whole of Bangladesh gets very angry, the way she is speaking. Why is she keeping this whole anger thing inside of us now?”
‘It’s social media — we cannot control it’
When Yunus asked, “And is India doing what you asked?”, he replied, “No,” and quoted the Prime Minister, saying, “It’s social media — we cannot control it.”
Keir Starmer declined to meet Yunus
On the other hand, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declined to meet Muhammad Yunus, as the latter had sought his support in recovering billions of dollars siphoned off by the government of Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister.
On June 9, Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League had expressed deep concern over UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s reportedly scheduled meeting with Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, the party said in a statement.
Awami League had expressed deep concern
“The Awami League has expressed deep concern over UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s reportedly scheduled meeting with Muhammad Yunus, the self-declared Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, warning that any formal meeting lends legitimacy to an unelected and unconstitutional administration,” said the Awami League statement posted on its Facebook page.
A formal letter from the Awami League’s UK branch has been sent to Downing Street, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the King’s Foundation, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, urging British officials not to unwittingly launder Yunus’s administration, just as Bangladesh’s crisis deepens, it added.
