Thursday, February 22, 2007

Yunus starts a political party

Nobel winner Mohammad Yunus is starting a political party in Bangladesh, named "Nagorik Shakti" (meaning "Citizen Power").

The political system is quite messy in Bangladesh. The two main parties BNP and Awami League are feudal, corrupt and violent in nature. Yunus, I hope, does something better.

However, I am also very skeptical about well meaning individuals jumping into politics in the hope that people would support them simply because they are 'well meaning celebrities'. This happens a lot in India. It takes a lot of organizational work to build a grassroots political party and win elections consistently. If Yunus doesn't build a strong political organization (hopefully in an ethical way), he will lose out to experienced politicians like Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia.

News from Daily Star

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