March 15, 2007
Nobel Winner's Politics Stir Debate
Muhammad Yunus Won The Nobel Peace Prize Last Year, But Is Now Starting A Political Party In Bangladesh
-
Bangladesh Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus gestures during a talk organised by The Kashf Foundation in Islamabad on March 4, 2007. Yunus, currently visiting Pakistan, is the pioneer of micro-financing in Bangladesh. He introduced the concept of lending small amounts of money to the poor and set up The Grameen Bank enabling those who took out small loans to establish businesses. (FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images)
-
Fast Facts Bangladesh Learn about the people, economy and history.
-
Photo Essay Nobels All Around Prize winners receive their awards at lavish ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm.
Even as rumors abound that aggrieved factions within the two major parties will join Citizens' Power in the coming months, analysts say Yunus' plans to contest all 300 parliamentary seats in the delayed elections is still too ambitious.
Calls for him to articulate a platform are increasing. "Yunus has yet to articulate his political platform, so the entire focus is on his personality and his past actions," says Bhattacharya.
"Unless Yunus reveals who he is politically, what he wants to do, his ideologies and his core party members, he will not be able to earn the trust of people across the nation as a politician," echoes Rahman. "It is not enough for people in the villages of Bangladesh that he is Yunus; politics is a different game.
"Yunus certainly has a political prospect, but it is not a bright one," says Rahman. "I don't see his party winning a majority in Parliament anytime soon."
© 2007 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
| The Christian Science Monitor is an independent daily newspaper, with news from around the world to help you understand this changing world. |
More From World
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
