Two Chittagong vice chancellors fight a war of words over Nobel laureate Yunus

A debate between two vice-chancellors has turned into a verbal brawl after one of them accused Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus of doing little for Chittagong.

Chittagong Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 2 Sept 2016, 07:56 PM
Updated : 2 Sept 2016, 07:56 PM

The debate between Chittagong University Vice-Chancellor Prof Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury and East Delta University Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Sikander Khan took place at the Chittagong Press Club on Friday afternoon.

The two had gone there to attend a discussion on "Halda River – the present and the way forward".

While Prof Iftekhar Uddin was the chief guest, Prof Sikander was the president at the event.

The debate started when the public university VC in his speech accused Prof Yunus, a native of Chittagong, of doing little for the place he was born in.

"Chittagong is the gateway of Bangladesh. It is the source of one-fourth of the total revenue of the country. Look how the place is being neglected," Prof Iftekhar Uddin said.

"There are some of us who are intellectuals, so-called intellectuals.  I am putting myself in the bracket as well. We talk, do nothing," he went on and at one point hit out at the former Grameen Bank managing director.

"We say a lot of things about Dr Yunus. If Dr Yunus would want to start some social business around Halda River...it would be no problem at all for him. But he never spoke anything about the Halda River."

Prof Iftekhar Uddin then drew Prof Sikander directly into the debate, "There is my sir here...Sikander sir. I am telling you sir, we want Dr Yunus."

"A man who has got the Peace Prize is here, he does business worth millions of dollars. Why has he got no concerns for Chittagong? Why does he have no concerns for Halda River?" he lashed out.

When Prof Sikander rose to deliver the presidential address, he refuted Prof Iftekhar Uddin with equal vehemence.

Prof Sikander, also the Chittagong president of the "Yunus Suhrid" (Friends of Yunus), said, "It is our good fortune that Yunus was born in Chittagong. It is for him that Bangladesh has got recognition on the international forum. He has not got the opportunity yet to work for Chittagong."

"Something has been said that Yunus does business worth millions of dollars and this and that...helps other nations etc, but these are not true. He has never helped any nation with dollars nor has he the slightest inclination to do that," the VC of the private university claimed.

"He has shown the world that the poor can be trusted with money. Those who have nothing, the poor, they can be trusted with money. He has shown the other countries what he has realised from his findings. It has worked for us in Bangladesh here. You can try it out yourselves.

The Friends of Yunus president continued: "He got the Nobel prize for the only reason that he taught the world that the poor can be trusted."

Answering Prof Iftekhar Uddin's question why Md Yunus does not start a social business at Halda's banks, Prof Sikander said, "Social business has to be started by us. For that, one has to pass several smaller tests.

“The bedrock of the social business is that ‘we trust you with all the money’. When the environment is right for that trust, the social business will also start."

He added that the environment is just not conducive in Bangladesh to experiment with "trust".