Sharing her take on the ongoing turbulence in Dhaka, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin said former Chief Advisor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus ‘destroyed the country’ by supporting the jihadist elements
Sharing her take on the ongoing turbulence in Dhaka, Bangladeshi-Swedish writer and physician Taslima Nasrin said former Chief Advisor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus “destroyed the country” by supporting the jihadist elements.
On Saturday, at the News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Nasrin shared the plight of minorities in Bangladesh. She emphasised how a possible regime change in Iran would be different from that of Bangladesh.
The discussion opened with both Israel and the United States’ recent calls for regime change in Iran as the unleash lethal strikes over Tehran. The conflict has triggered wider tension in West Asia. Nasrin emphasised that while regime change in Iran is needed, recalling how women have been killed for not following Hijab laws, she insisted that the situation is not the same for Bangladesh.
“What happened in Bangladesh was that jihadists came to power with government support. Yunus supported Islamic terrorists and destroyed the country,” she said, adding that the Nobel laureate wanted to remove the historical legacy of the country’s 1971 liberation war. However, she maintained an optimistic stance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) under Tarique Rahman coming to power.
When asked about the duplicity of standards in terms of dealing with the radicals in countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Nasrin made it clear that “Radicals are not okay anywhere.” She shared the plight of Afghan women under the Taliban. “Law should be based on equality and justice, women should be given opportunities,” she said.
In Bangladesh, minorities live in fear
Sharing her experience in India, Nasrin noted that Muslims in India are safer than “Muslims in the Muslim world”. “Even though I am an atheist, I come from a Muslim family and have been living in India for many years. I don’t think they [Muslims are unsafe here],” she said.
She went on to emphasise that minorities in Bangladesh live in constant fear. “Whenever they get the opportunity, they leave the country as they are persecuted because they have a different faith.
I have never heard muslims here say that they would leave this country. They never think of leaving India for another muslim country,” she told Network18.
During the thought-provoking session, Nasrin also shed light on how people of Bangladesh are treated in the Middle East. “In rich muslim countries, people of Bangladesh are treated as mistreated. In Saudi Arabia, Bangladeshi women workers face atrocities and oppression. They come back dead, beaten up, pregnant or even raped. They are treated as sex slaves,” she said.
‘Muslim unity is a myth’
When asked about the concept of “Muslim brotherhood”, Nasrin maintained that “Muslim unity is a myth”. She emphasised that the 1971 war proved that Muslim unity is a myth, recalling how Muslims in West Pakistan were committing atrocities against Muslims in then-East Pakistan.
Emphasising how Muslim women have been suffering under radical laws, Nasrin claimed that women in the Muslim world also remain divided. “For instance, in Iran, some women don’t want to wear hijab, some don’t mind wearing it,” she said.
Overall, Nasrin emphasised that without economic freedom, women of the muslim world will “never be liberated”, urging the Islamist world to be civilised. She maintained that free thinkers in the Muslim world would be instrumental in this endeavour.
Expectations from the new government in Bangladesh
During the conversation, Nasrin also put forward her expectations for the new Bangladesh government under the leadership of Tarique Rahman. While she emphasised that the world has to “wait and see” how Rahman leads Bangladesh, she called for the lifting of the ban on the Awami League.
“He has to unban Awami League, do something about freed jihadist from prison, ensure strict separation between state and religion,” she said. The Bangladeshi author and physician also insisted that Jamaat should not be the main opposition party in the country.
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