Bangladesh Protesters Want Nobel Laureate to Advise New Government

A day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh dramatically resigned and fled the country, the student groups that led the popular uprising against her proposed a notable name to help lead the interim government: Muhammad Yunus, a microfinance pioneer who received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Yunus, one of Bangladesh’s best-known citizens, was among those Ms. Hasina considered a political threat for years, her critics say. Now, those who ousted her want Mr. Yunus, 84, to hold one of the most powerful positions in the new government.

“We have decided that an interim government should be formed with Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as the chief adviser,” Nahid Islam, one of the student leaders, said on Tuesday morning. “We have spoken with Dr. Yunus, and he has agreed to take on this significant responsibility.”

However, it remains unclear how much the student groups can influence the new governing arrangement and Mr. Yunus’s role in it. The country’s powerful military and other political parties will also have a say.

Here’s what to know about Mr. Yunus and his rise in Bangladesh.

Mr. Yunus was born in 1940 in the city of Chittagong. He went to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship in the 1960s and received a Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University. He returned to Bangladesh in the early 1970s and launched a project that gave small loans to the poor. In 1983, that service became Grameen Bank.

The bank grew steadily in the next decade, and its success, especially in extending loans to women, inspired microfinance projects in dozens of countries and garnered praise from world leaders.