Friends
It is absolutely correct that SONAR BANGLA is under the fever of
serious type of
"hingsha, or vindictiveness, is a hallmark of national politics."
May Allah save Bangladesh from the devilish acts of Hingsha n vindictiveness.
Faruque Alamgir
On 3/6/11, Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com> wrote:
> *Nobel laureate economist Yunus may be victim of petty jealousy*
>
> The popular pioneer who was ousted from Grameen Bank, a microfinance
> institution, may be too successful for others' liking in Bangladesh, where
> hingsha, or vindictiveness, is a hallmark of national politics.
>
> By Zain Mahmood and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
>
> March 6, 2011
> He's won the Nobel Peace
> Prize<http://www.latimes.com/topic/arts-culture/nobel-prize-awards-8006070.topic>.
> He's been hailed as a pioneering economist who brought hope to millions of
> poor Bangladeshis. And he's adored by the international community.Maybe
> Muhammad Yunus was just a bit too popular.
>
> Bangladeshis have a word for it: *hingsha*, meaning jealousy or
> vindictiveness. Analysts say *hingsha* is a hallmark of national politics,
> and they say it may have played a role in Yunus' ouster last week from
> Grameen Bank, the* *microfinance institution he founded nearly 30 years ago.
>
> "This is *hingsha*," said Golam Hossain, a professor with
> Dhaka's<http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/bangladesh/dhaka-%28bangladesh%29-PLGEO100100602011322.topic>Jahangirnagar
> University. "It's a very active part of the culture in our
> society."
>
> Yunus, a global pioneer in lending small sums of money to the poor, has come
> under growing scrutiny by government finance regulators for alleged weak
> oversight and poor management of the bank.The nation's central bank, which
> holds a minority stake in Grameen, announced Wednesday that Yunus, 70, had
> been removed as managing director on what some saw as a technicality:
> violating the government's mandatory retirement age of 60.Yunus and nine of
> Grameen's directors said they had filed separate legal challenges to the
> government's move in
> Bangladesh's<http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/bangladesh-PLGEO00000148.topic>High
> Court.
>
> Some speculate that the economist's downfall has the whiff of politics about
> it.Yunus has been an outspoken critic of endemic political corruption in
> Bangladesh. In 2007, he briefly floated the idea of forming a political
> party.
>
> "I was living in Bangladesh when he said he was thinking of forming a
> political party, and we looked at each other and said, 'The guy's insane,'"
> said Graham Wright,
> India<http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/india/new-delhi-%28india%29-PLGEO100100602011350.topic>program
> director with MicroSave, which advises microfinance organizations.
>
> "Politics in Bangladesh is dynastic, with quite an entrenched system in the
> villages, reinforced by bribery and goonery," Wright said. "Yunus was not
> cut out for that."
>
> Yunus tested the waters and quickly came to the same conclusion, analysts
> said. But his national and international stature and support among foreign
> governments, villagers and civic society represented a threat to
> Bangladesh's two mainstream parties.
>
> "Most likely, the perception is still there," said Salahuddin Aminuzzaman, a
> professor at Dhaka University. "Some analysts say this could be a factor now
> on why he's been ostracized from the bank."
>
> In December, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheik Hasina Wajed accused Yunus and
> Grameen of "sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation."
>
> "I daresay if Yunus had joined one of the two mainstream political parties,
> he would be fine," said Minhaz Zia, a financial analyst at Dhaka-based AT
> Capital, a consulting firm. "But he tried to create a third force and
> envisioned a greater role for civil society. That made him a target."
>
> As the crisis has come to a head, foreign governments, civic groups and
> luminaries have backed Yunus. The "Friends of Grameen," a group of
> internationally renowned lawyers, academics, former politicians and
> businesspeople led by former Irish President Mary Robinson, warned in a
> statement of "politically orchestrated" attacks.
>
> "The United States is deeply troubled by the process to remove Professor
> Yunus," James F. Moriarty, the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, told reporters
> Thursday. "It strikes us that it is an unusual way to handle a Nobel
> laureate, who is considered outside the country one of the greatest
> Bangladeshis."
>
> Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith conceded Thursday at a news
> conference that Yunus' removal wouldn't improve the nation's image but said
> the central bank acted in accordance with the law."There is no political or
> personal vendetta," he said.
>
> In addition to the retirement issue, Yunus has been cited for using a
> family-affiliated printing company for some of the bank's printing, a
> possible conflict of interest.
>
> And a
> documentary<http://www.latimes.com/topic/arts-culture/genres/documentary-%28genre%29-0100000004593864.topic>aired
> on Norwegian television alleged in December that Yunus improperly
> transferred $100 million donated by a Norwegian aid agency into a Grameen
> affiliate rather than into the bank's main account. An inquiry by Oslo
> confirmed the questionable transfer but said the entire amount was shifted
> back to the proper account with no money misused.
>
> Bangladeshi newspapers criticized the government for its heavy-handed
> treatment of Yunus."The manner in which Yunus was removed smacked of a lack
> of decency," the Daily Star said in an editorial Friday. "Can a technicality
> be the main measure of judging a man of Yunus' stature?"
>
> *Hingsha* became a prominent feature of national politics during the 1990s,
> analysts say, at the expense of policy, cooperation and, at times, broader
> national interest.
>
> "Unfortunately, it's become a function of our parliamentary democracy,
> fighting each other," Aminuzzaman said. "But the young, middle class and
> urban are sick and tired of *hingsha* and want an end to this, so I hope it
> will change."
>
> But he's not holding his breath. A joke making the rounds in Bangladesh has
> it that in hell, every other nationality is kept in guarded cells but the
> one housing Bangladeshis remains unguarded."Why is that?" someone asks the
> devil.
> He replies, "Because if anyone tried to leave, *hingsha* ensures the others
> would pull them back."
>
> *mark.magnier@latimes.com*
>
> *Special correspondent Mahmood reported from Dhaka and Times staff writer
> Magnier from New Delhi. Anshul Rana of The Times' New Delhi bureau
> contributed to this report.*
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bangladesh-bank-20110306,0,4915269,full.story
> <http://www.latimes.com/>
>
------------------------------------
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