Muhammad Yunus deserves strong criticism for promoting and producing a video that glorifies Khaleda Zia while ignoring the documented failures of her administration. By endorsing a narrative that calls her an “uncompromising leader” and praises her “etiquette, courtesy, firmness, foresight, and wisdom,” Yunus casts aside the fundamental fact that Bangladesh was ranked the most corrupt country in the world throughout her 2001 to 2005 tenure.
It is irresponsible for a leader who claims to champion transparency to spend public resources manufacturing a heroic image of someone whose government presided over systemic corruption. Yunus cannot claim neutrality or commitment to reform while advancing propaganda that attempts to rewrite well-established history.
Producing this video was a misuse of taxpayer money, a lapse in judgment, and an unnecessary insertion of the interim government into partisan rehabilitation. He should withdraw the production, acknowledge the error, and reaffirm that state institutions will not be used to sanitize the records of political figures.