This speech was delivered by Muhammad Yunus on October 17, 2025 outside the Bangladesh National Parliament.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
My dear countrymen, wherever you are in Bangladesh, in the fields and farms, in the cities, towns, and marketplaces, those who are watching us today on this great day, please accept my greetings (salaam). And those who are present, please accept my wishes and greetings (salaam).
First of all, I am expressing gratitude to Allah for giving us this great day. By His mercy, today we were able to make this successful. And the proof of His mercy, we received that as well. When I came here to give the July declaration, there was no sign of rain. But as soon as our work began, it started to rain. I said, this is Allah’s mercy raining down upon us. And today, by Allah’s grace, indeed, He has showered His mercy upon us. We are grateful to Him.
This great day, and within it, this special moment Allah has given us, that the entire nation together, all political leaders together, they are signing the July Charter. We never imagined that such an event would happen. When we formed the Consensus Commission, I had a hope in my heart that maybe on one or two issues, we could bring them to an agreement. But hearing the statements of all the political parties, it seemed no one would listen to anyone else. So, it started with fear. I gave the responsibility to Professor Ali Riaz. He is a wise person. If he could proceed with understanding… An amazing thing happened. The whole country saw, not only did all the political parties sit for talks, they had wonderful discussions. So deeply, and with such profound knowledge, the discussion took place among them, with such cordiality, if we hadn’t seen it, we wouldn’t have believed it. Those of you in remote parts of the country, in various places, you all have seen it, because it was being continuously broadcast on television. How they were presenting their respective policies, presenting their statements, everyone heard it. Not just heard, they participated, participated in their minds, debated in their homes. Whose point is right? Whose point is valid? Which one is better to accept? Which one should be adopted? And they wrote about it among themselves, debated it. You involved the entire nation in this. You didn’t just talk in a limited camera setting, you gave the entire nation a share in this discussion. Everyone participated. It wasn’t that someone agreed instantly. Seeing the situation, it seemed it wouldn’t progress very far. We would have to end after agreeing on a few issues. But gradually, no matter how complex the issue, consensus was reached. Today, we are able to enact this charter with a long list. For the members of the political parties, and for our Consensus Commission’s Vice-President and members, let’s give a big round of applause. They have made the impossible possible. They will remain immortal in history. Their names will be immortal. People will wonder how they did this.
Today, this day that we have received, it is a great day. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Such a day. It is not just for the nation, it will remain a great example for the whole world. In many places, it will be in textbooks. It will be discussed in classrooms. It will be discussed among political scientists in various countries. What is right, what is wrong? What did they say? What do we want? They will see if they can do it, they will try to see if it’s possible in their countries. The example that the politicians of our country have set, it is an example for the country, and indeed, for the whole world. I congratulate them once again for doing this, for taking the country to a much higher place, they have taken it very high.
That we were able to do this, to try to reach a consensus by forming a commission, this commission that was formed, those who gave this opportunity, because of whom it happened, we remember them now. We remember the heroes of the mass uprising. Because of them, we are here today. Those who gave their lives for this uprising, shed their blood, we remember them. Those who were injured, the brave warriors who were injured, are alive, are in pain, we remember them. We pay our respects to them, we express our gratitude. It is because of them that this day was made possible for us. The entire nation will be forever grateful to them. We convey that gratitude to them.
We, today, the work we did, we all signed here together, with that, my Bangladesh will change. This change was made possible because of that mass uprising, because of the uprising of students and the people. That, this is the second part of it. Because they did that, we got this opportunity today. We… discarded all the old ways of thinking and brought new ideas into our lives, into our national life. We brought changes to our constitution. We brought… in other matters… in matters of running the government. Changes will come in many areas. This change now will take us forward. We will advance on that path. For us today is a new birth. We had our new birth today. Through this signing, we have initiated a new Bangladesh. So that we can proceed correctly, for this, we seek Allah’s mercy. So that we do not deviate from this. We have reached a consensus. To manage this consensus well, to move it forward, how it will be possible for us. The youth who made this day possible, in every corner of this Bangladesh, those who gave their lives for this change, it is these youths who will again build Bangladesh anew in this light, in the light of this ideology, they will build this country. They will lead this country. They will show us the way. This country is a country of the youth. Here, among 180 million people, half the people are below the age of 27. Imagine what kind of youth the people of this Bangladesh are. This is our asset. The whole world is looking at us with astonishment. When will we help them by sending these youths. Because the whole world has a shortage of youth. In some countries, there are almost no young people. So they are looking at us. This is our golden opportunity. Letting them move forward, not just to change Bangladesh, the opportunity has come to them to change the world. Applications are coming to us: send us this many people, send us that many people, send us as many as you can. This is the talk of 2025. What will they say in 2026? What will they say in 2027? They will come with folded hands. Because besides our youth, who can provide so many young people to the world, so much fresh energy, so many creative people, so many trustworthy people, you won’t find another country. Therefore, the responsibility to build that country the next government must take, the subsequent governments must take. The preparation for that is this charter of ours. Through this charter, we did another big thing. We… from barbarism came to civilization. We were in a barbaric world. Where there were no rules or laws. By human will, one could do whatever one wanted. Now we have come to civilization. And now we will build a civilization people will look at us with envy. So that is now our next… how we will build our post-charter life depends on that. But our future is very bright. Just… our potential must be unlocked. This country’s biggest conclusion that we got from here, from here, what we understood today, is that if we are united, the way we have been able to, if we are united in all other work, if we walk one path, then our country will become a unique country. Our country has that strength. We can use that strength. We have resources that we haven’t been able to use so far. I repeatedly mention this, it is the Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal is our own part. It is a part… of our… Bangladesh. We never paid attention to what we do in this part. This… this part is an extremely resource-rich part. We are saying that we want to make full use of this resource. We want to move forward, we don’t want to remain in debates and arguments anymore. That’s why this charter was made today. This charter will end the debates. We will follow the rules. We are now ready to follow the rules. This rule that… we signed today, we signed after much discussion. This will show us the path. We will walk this path. Then we, the resources we have, we can use those resources. I am saying again and again that if we build a deep-sea port, then ships from all over the world will have to dock at our port. Our goods will not have to be unloaded in Singapore and left. Other countries’ goods will not have to be unloaded in Singapore and left. They will be able to bring them right to our doorstep. And other countries that cannot take the opportunity, their goods can be brought here. They will take them from here. So there is a huge opportunity here. And there is the matter of fish in the Bay of Bengal. Fishermen from other countries come… our fishermen come… from our waters, they catch fish and take them away. We can only watch helplessly. They take our fish, we can’t bring our fish home. We have to be rescued from this. Combining that Bay of Bengal, combining its coast, we can change the entire Bangladesh. If we can bring it into our planning, Cox’s Bazar, combining everything, combining Maheshkhali, if we develop the port in one place, then the whole area will turn into a new Singapore, this is certain. No one can be outside of this. And people from all countries will come here. We… as part of our economy, can build a regional economy. We, with Nepal, Bhutan, in the Seven Sisters, we can build financial relationships with them just because of this port, because of this communication. They will also prosper, we will also prosper. So these opportunities are there, if we could walk the right path and hold the right opinions. That’s what it showed us today, that we can. That is today’s our lesson, that what we want, we can do. And what we did today, to let the students, the youth know, it will be in their textbooks. How we came to a consensus, what issues we considered, why they came to this decision, how they came, for them, the debates they had day after day to reach this decision, videos of those, issue-based, should be made and given into the hands of all students. Let them see their leaders, how they considered their issues, how they reached decisions. Let them be inspired. Today is not just an event, the whole nation will be inspired by this. They will find a new direction. That we are not a small nation, not a nation that survives on someone’s mercy, we don’t live under anyone’s thumb, we walk our own way, with our heads held high. And we will walk with our heads held high in the whole world. We have that capability. We will give to other countries. We have that capability. Other countries will learn from us. We have that capability. Today, this charter that was signed, many countries will come to learn from it. I can guarantee you this. This example that you created, we can create many more such examples. We want to go on that path.
We are a great nation. As that great nation, we must feel it within ourselves. So that no one can push us away. When they see us, they respect us, with their heads bowed they stay. “How did you do so many things?” They still wonder, how did they do this? They had this uprising, a… government of so many years they toppled it, the government fled, they formed a new government, they made a new charter, they did so much. This is surprising, an amazing thing to see. We have talked about elections. This tune, the tune we played here today, we will go towards elections with that tune. The tune of unity. We will go towards elections with the tune of unity.
In February, there will be an election. And may this unity remain. Just as we made a charter in consensus today, regarding this politics as well, regarding the election as well, you political leaders sit, leaders of different parties sit and make a charter on how you will conduct the election. If you hold the election just any which way, you’ll just go back to the old place, what’s the use of just… doing it? What’s the use of writing this? We wrote it, but didn’t follow it. We didn’t follow it in our actions. So my request, you again, call it a consensus commission, or a committee, sit among yourselves. How will you conduct the election beautifully, in a festive manner, make it memorable in history. That the charter creators this… held this election, this… created this charter, this election was created by their hands. Why will the police come and push and shove? You will conduct your own election. We don’t have to do anything on anyone’s pretext. We don’t have to be shown how, we don’t have to be pushed. Don’t we know how to conduct an election beautifully? Let that be an example. An example for the nation, we want to hold that election as an example for the world.
We, Inshallah (God willing), will be able to. Today, we left a sign of that ability here. Holding on to this… this sign, we will move forward on the path. May Allah give us that strength. For that, everyone pray for us. Those who are listening today, far away, make up your minds. That through this consensus, difficult, difficult tasks can be solved, that we have come from barbarism to civilization, its proof can be left, there can be no greater proof than that. We proved on paper that we brought that civilization. Now we have to prove in action that we have achieved that civilization. Our political leaders have shown us that path. We are bowing our heads to them, that they… this path… for showing us this path. May they do the next part beautifully as well. The election too, so that we can applaud it. We will all hold the election in such a way that no one from anywhere in the world can come and say that something is happening here, there is trouble here. They must not be able to say this. Why will outsiders come and tell us, “You didn’t do this right, you didn’t do that right?” What kind of nation are we? That we have to wait for outsiders’ words? We who can create this charter, that power, did it seem any less than anyone else’s in the world to you? That discussion, did it seem any less than anyone else’s to you? The politicians who participated here, their knowledge, their wisdom, their experience, did it seem less than any other country’s politician’s to you? Not at all. Then why can’t we do it? So you all pray, everyone try together so that we can conduct the election beautifully. Inshallah, then we will be able to proceed on the right path.
Today, thanking everyone, especially those who signed this charter, thanking them… they have taken our country to a very high level. May we stay at that height, may we go even higher, for that I am praying to Allah. Thank you all.