The government of Bangladesh did not snatch away Nobel Peace Prize
from Dr. Muhammad Yunus which was bestowed on him by the imperialist
powers, and in any case they have no power to do so. They simply have
removed him from his post of managing director of Grameen Bank on legal
grounds. This was done according to the rules of the Bangladesh Bank and
the law of the land.
The merit of this
action was examined by the High Court, where Yunus filed a case
appealing against the government decision. The High Court dismissed the
writ after hearing from both sides. The case has been dismissed again by
the Supreme Court as well.

The said action of the government against Yunus was taken for certain
irregularities committed by him and it is a domestic matter of
Bangladesh. We find that those imperialist powers, particularly the US
government and the Clinton clique, who manipulated the Nobel Prize for
Yunus, have very sharply and bitterly reacted against this decision of
the government.

For a long time we have been critically analysing the activities of
Yunus and the Grameen Bank just for the reason that very tall claims are
being made on behalf of the Bank and for himself by Yunus. He claims to
have invented a theory which says that the right to secure loan is a
‘birth right’ of man. He claims that by extending loan to the poor, he
has been successful in alleviating poverty in Bangladesh to a large
extent and by 2030 he would send poverty to the museum as a relic of the
past. While making this obviously ludicrous claim he exposes himself as
a person who miserably fails to understand that poverty is not a thing,
it is not an archaeological artefact, but the result of relations which
exist between people in the course of production and other social
affairs.

The Grameen Bank undoubtedly is a successful operator of small loans
to rural poor like many NGOs, and has established a record in this which
is far better than the ordinary commercial banks. For this achievement
the Grameen Bank may be awarded an international award for its success
in managing small loans. But it must be emphasised that it has nothing
to do with peace. Moreover, Yunus himself was never found to protest
against any kind of repressions on the people which are perpetuated by
government agencies and other predator social forces. He was never found
to utter a word against military interventions, aggressions and
predatory wars of imperialists on countries of Asia, Africa and Latin
America. He was never found to play any role in easing tensions or
establishing peace between conflicting interests and groups in
Bangladesh or anywhere else. He actually had never anything to do with
peace. On the contrary, he had always fraternised with those who make
wars and disturb peace at home and abroad. In spite of this he was
awarded Nobel Prize for peace by the imperialist cliques to promote
their political and other interests in Bangladesh. It was no surprise
that he was given the Nobel Prize in 2006 suddenly on the eve of the
military takeover of the administration in January, 2007.

Yunus managed the affairs of the Grameen Bank as an autocrat and like
any other autocrat he had no compunction in committing irregularities.
He was not accountable to anybody and did everything in a cavalier
manner. He exercised the authority of appointing all employees and even
directors. His appointment as Managing Director of the Bank had always
been basically an act of his own, and in these matters the role of the
Board of Directors was nominal. He took all major decisions over the
head of the Board of Directors of which he was not a member. If the
relation of Managing Director and the Board of Directors is examined, it
will be found to be a very extraordinary arrangement. The Board always
acted as an utterly subservient body to the Managing Director.

In all regards, the rules of Grameen  Bank were extraordinary and the
concessions granted to it by the government in conducting its affairs
was in contradiction with all banking practices followed in this
country. However, these administrative matters including the rules of
conducting the business of Grameen Bank are not a matter of our real
concern and we leave it to the Enquiry Committee which has been
instituted by the government to investigate into the affairs of the
Bank. Our real concern is the situation on the ground.

Here it is not possible to detail the consequences of small loan
business of the Grameen Bank. But one thing must be made clear. We are
not opposed to small loans or micro credit, because such loans are
desperately needed by the rural poor, particularly the peasants and
artisans who are engaged in production. Rural money lenders had always
acted as such loan-giving agents for centuries during the feudal period
and they still continue to do so. Fraudulently and mischievously, Yunus
is glorified as the first ‘banker to the poor’ who has redeemed the poor
of the countryside, particularly the poor women whereas the fact is
that the traditional rural moneylenders have historically performed the
task of lending to the poor. Even the NGO’s who were launched by the
then World Bank President Robert Macnamara in the ‘70s started lending
to the poor before the establishment of the Grameen Bank.

The NGO’s and the Grameen Bank were launched by the imperialists with
the active help and co-operation of the government not for alleviating
or eradicating poverty. Their principal objective in this was to
perpetuate poverty and to distract the attention of the poor from
political struggles for changing basic relations of production as well
as social relations which create and preserve the conditions of poverty.
Here there is no scope for elaborating this point but it is necessary
to mention that the greatest noise is made for the Grameen Bank and its
so-called mission for eradicating poverty by those who are the
recognised enemies of the poor working people of the world including the
people of Bangladesh. These noise makers represent the forces which
exploit the poor everywhere, twist the hands of poor countries dependent
on them and do not have the slightest compunction in wantonly attacking
countries which dare to resist their advances. These are the countries
which unhesitatingly bomb the poor in other countries and commit
genocide as they recently did in Iraq and are currently doing in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya.

The reaction of these forces which include imperialist countries like
the US, France, Britain, Germany and others of Europe and elsewhere and
their lackeys and flunkeys in countries like Bangladesh is a clear
indication of the interest which Dr. Yunus serves. It is insane to think
that against whose removal from the post of Managing Director of
Grameen Bank the imperialist powers are raising a hue and cry can, by
any stretch of imagination, be a friend of the poor in any country and
who can lead a programme for eradicating or even alleviating poverty of
those who are subjected to the worst kind of exploitation by local
ruling classes, governments and imperialist powers.

In this context, it is interesting to note that the loanees or
borrowers of Grameen Bank, in no area of Bangladesh, has so far brought 
out any demonstration in favour or Yunus and against the government
decision to remove him from the post of Managing Director. Recently, a
handout of Grameen Bank says that about three million loanees have
signed a protest statement against Yunus’ removal. But demonstrations
and protest statements are very different acts. It is very easy to get
any paper signed by the loanees by local Grameen Bank officials.

And even then, there is no certain evidence that such a statement has
actually been signed by 3 million loanees. The whole matter may be a
lie and a fraudulent propaganda on behalf of a section of Grameen Bank
officials loyal to Yunus.

In spite of this lack of support for Yunus from the Grameen Bank,
loanees who are said to be the “real owners” of the Bank, it is amazing
to see the kind of international support organised in favour of Yunus.
They eulogise the achievements of Dr. Yunus in order of protect his
position in the Grameen Bank. Under the presidentship of a former
president of Ireland, a ‘committee of friends of Grameen’ has been
formed with its headquarters in Paris. On 30th March in a
question-answer session of the French National Assembly, the French
foreign minister Alain Juppe said, ‘‘the Grameen Bank’s micro credit
model has been unanimously recognised as a ‘magnificently successful’
poverty alleviation tool and replicated across the world, particularly
to help empower women in developing countries’’ (Daily Star 1.4.2011).
This statement of the French minister is no exception. The likes of this
statement are being issued regularly by imperialist representatives and
their flunkeys in Bangladesh. But the fact is that except the people
who issue such statement no one recognises Grameen Bank micro credit
model as ‘magnificently successful’ in alleviating poverty in
Bangladesh. No one recognises the role to Grameen Bank in empowering
women in Bangladesh.

Women in Bangladesh are subjected to various kinds of exploitations
and repressions all over the country, particularly in the rural areas.
The poor women in the countryside are still the most oppressed among the
people and are regularly victimised by the rural exploiters and
oppressors including the mullahs who often deliver fatwas against them.
Dr. Yunus of Grameen Bank fame was never found to protest, in any form,
against such atrocities.

It does not require any great learning or wisdom to theoretically
understand that poverty alleviation and empowerment of woman have noting
to do with money-lending business whatever may be the terms of such
lending. Even a modest survey of the situation on the ground in the
rural areas reveals to any one that there has not been any perceptible
poverty alleviation through disbursement of rural credit by the Grameen
Bank or any other NGOs, though there may be some exceptional cases where
some loanees have been able to improve their financial situation by
making clever use of such loans.

No elaborate discussion on the ‘achievement’ of Yunus is necessary to
emphasise the point that his main achievement is management of the
lending operation of the Grameen Bank. Its business has been extended to
very large areas in Bangladesh, the number of borrowers from the Bank
has reached, according to their own statement, up to more than eight
million and that through a special mechanism of control its rate or
realisation is 98%! This success would not have been possible without
massive foreign financial contribution and many special concessions and
privileges granted by the government to this Bank which are not
available to other commercial banks.

The function of this banking business of Grameen is no different from
that of traditional small loan business operated for hundreds of years
by rural money lenders called mohajons. Basically, it helps small
production carried out by peasants and artisans and various kinds of
small scale economic activities. Thus the relentless propaganda carried
out by imperialist circles and their flunkeys in Bangladesh has nothing
to do with the actual work and ‘achievements’ of the Grameen Bank and
its famous Managing Director Dr. Yunus claims that the eight million
loanees are the owners of the Bank and that they are regularly paid
dividends. This claim is completely false and fraudulent. Any
investigation on the ground reveals that no loanee  of the Bank has any
ownership document and more of them has any paper related to dividend 
no one reports to have ever received any dividend. But the stereotyped
and ceaseless imperialist propaganda goes on and their international
media, both electronic and print, extensively carry out such propaganda
to which many well-meaning people fall victims.

Bangladesh Bank and the government of Bangladesh have removed Yunus
from the post of Managing Director. The imperialists are saying that
without him Grameen Bank would cease to function as an ‘alleviaor of
poverty’ and will lose its character. It is a completely false and
motivated propaganda because, as has been said earlier, it has no such
character. What actually may happen after his removal is a series of
reforms in Grameen Bank’s operational practice which will bring some
relief to the borrowers and reduce the profit of the Bank.

It may also reduce the inflow of foreign capital into the Bank and
weaken the position of Dr. Yunus as an agent of multinational
corporations who promote his ‘social business’.

The imperialists, through their massive image-building propaganda
have tried to elevate Yunus to the position of a demigod, a redeemer of
the poor and the downtrodden. They have tried to portray his activities
as a panacea of poverty and a means of empowerment of women. The main
objective in building up the image of Yunus in this manner is twofold.
First to use him for opening investment opportunities for exploiting
surplus from the poor of the country and secondly, and more importantly
to use him for political purposes. This became quite obvious when he was
awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2006, on the eve of military takeover
of the Bangladesh government in which the US and the Europeans had a
hand. Subsequently, Yunus attempted to usurp political power taking
advantage of the then existing situation by trying to organise his own
political party. His attempt failed miserably because of his complete
personal inability to understand the political process and to take
appropriate stops for building a party. Consequently, he soon proved
himself to be a political flop. But the imperialists have not given up
the hope of using him as their pawn in the political game which they may
need to play in times of crisis. It is for this reason that the
Norwegian government, after accusing him of financial dishonesty quickly
retracted their position in order to save his image by exonerating him
from charges which they themselves made against him.

The consternation in the imperialist circles after the removal of
Yunus from the position of Managing Director of the Bank and the lining
up of the NGOs and the gentlemen of the Bangladesh civil society behind
him has completely exposed the true character of Yunus. It has also
exposed the faces of persons and institutions in this country who act in
the interest of imperialism as their flunkeys. It has clearly
demonstrated that Yunus, the much advertised ‘banker to the poor’ does
not really represent the interest of the poor and the downtrodden in
this country, but that of their national and international exploiters
and oppressors. Whether may be the conspiracy of the imperialists, it
will be difficult for them to use Dr. Yunus, with his “shining”
anti-people and anti-poor image, as their political instrument on any
future occasion of political crisis.

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a leading Marxist politician, contributes to major national newspapers and writes usually in Bangla.