logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2025
22m 59s

Muhammad Yunus: We dream of creating a n...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News presenter and correspondent, speaks to Muhammad Yunus, interim leader of Bangladesh.

The 84-year-old is perhaps one of the world’s best-known Bangladeshis. Described as the banker to the world’s poor, he gained international recognition as a Nobel prize-winning economist, who founded the Grameen microfinance bank, which delivered small loans to economically deprived people.

It was a model applauded by many and is one which now operates across more than 100 countries worldwide.

But it’s also a model which was criticised by his political rival - Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who accused Mr Yunus of sucking blood from the poor. Her government made a series of allegations against him, including embezzlement, all of which he denies.

And it was the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s government last August that saw Muhammad Yunus thrust into the political spotlight.

Student-led protests saw thousands take to the streets in an uprising against her Awami league government, which was accused of election rigging, human rights abuses and jailing critics.

When Ms Hasina fled to neighbouring India, student leaders picked Muhammad Yunus to unite a divided nation. As well as promising to stamp out corruption, he’s also faced the challenges of managing a refugee crisis on his doorstep and navigating cuts to foreign aid.

So, after nearly a year in the job, how is he faring? The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Rajini Vaidyanathan Producers: Ben Cooper and Junaid Ahmed Editor: Nick Holland

Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.

(Image: Muhammad Yunus. Credit: Reuters/Yves Herman)

Up next
Oct 8
Duma Boko, President of Botswana: the world will listen to Africa
The world will have to listen to AfricaWaihiga Mwaura speaks to Botswana’s President Duma Boko about his plans to reinvigorate the economy, taking greater control of the country’s diamond reserves, but also diversifying its mining and other sectors. Currently facing hefty tariffs ... Show More
22m 59s
Oct 6
Bjorn Borg: I’ve always been a private person
Born in 1956 in the Swedish capital, Borg’s lifelong association with tennis began when his father won a full-size racket at a local table tennis tournament, which he gave to the young Borg.By the age of 14, he had joined the professional tennis circuit, and just a few years late ... Show More
22m 59s
Sep 30
Chris Wright, US Energy Secretary: The problem with climate alarmism
Justin Rowlatt speaks to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright about his belief that the threat from climate change is exaggerated. It is a view shared by the American President, Donald Trump, and one that has seen subsidies to the renewable energy industry, worth billions of dollars, ... Show More
22m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
Making Sense of Bangladesh
After 15 years in power, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has resigned from her post and fled the country. It's an incredible development and the culmination of deadly protests that have rocked the nation for weeks. New York Times' South Asia Bureau Chief Mujib Ma ... Show More
1h 1m
Aug 2024
Bangladesh Battered
Bangladesh is facing its worst crisis in recent times. The government has broken down, PM Sheikh Hasina has escaped, law and order is in complete disarray as mob violence and vandalism continue to rattle several parts of the country. As talks of an interim government hang in the ... Show More
28m 51s
Sep 2024
Ep70. Peak Disorder in Bangladesh
‘Peak Disorder’ is Jason’s coinage for: the democratic world’s inability to exert ordering capacity to respond to new challenges except if they are existentially pressing because we are simply too divided, distracted, and overtaxed by existing crises. This phenomenon of ‘peak dis ... Show More
55m 48s
Aug 2024
Muhammad Yunus returns to Bangladesh to lead interim government
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus - a longtime political foe of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina - has been named the country's interim leader. The 84-year-old was appointed a day after Ms Hasina fled the country following weeks of deadly protests that brought her res ... Show More
47m 26s
Aug 2024
How did student protests bring down Bangladesh's Prime Minister?
There are celebrations in Bangladesh following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation after weeks of violent unrest. Many have described the past month as one of the worst periods of violence seen in Bangladesh since the country formed five decades ago. Student protests again ... Show More
12m 30s
Aug 29
Thai court removes prime minister over leaked call
Thailand's prime minister has been removed by the constitutional court, plunging politics into turmoil and dealing a blow to Thailand's most powerful political dynasty. Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed for violating ethics in a leaked June phone call, where she could be heard ... Show More
33m 28s
Mar 2025
Mohammed bin Salman: From pariah to peacemaker
How did Saudi Arabia come to host leaders from the US, Russia and Ukraine for peace talks? Just a few years ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was publicly identified as the man who ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. As a resul ... Show More
26m 28s
Sep 2024
Who is Robert Jenrick - and is he going to become Tory leader?
The first round of the Conservative leadership race has seen Priti Patel leave the race, and Robert Jenrick take poll position. Could he be the Conservatives next leader? And what kind of Tory is he? We talk to Tory watcher and author Ben Riley Smith from the Telegraph. Later, is ... Show More
36m 20s
Sep 12
Trump on Charlie Kirk shooter: 'I think we have him'
Donald Trump believes that authorities have caught Charlie Kirk's shooter. Also: the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is sentenced to 27 years in jail; Israel steps up its military offensive in Gaza; 300 South Korean workers, detained by the US, arrive home; female repr ... Show More
28m 19s
Mar 2025
The BBC Journalist Arrested in Turkey
Today, Laura and Paddy speak to Mark Lowen, the BBC journalist who was deported from Turkey after being arrested in Istanbul. Mark had been there for several days to report on the ongoing protests that were sparked by the Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest last week. He tells ... Show More
34m 22s