 "Why Alex Soros-Muhammad Yunus meet may ring alarm bells in India")
Alex Soros, the son of Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros, met Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka.
According to reports, the meeting focused on Bangladesh’s economy and economic reforms.
The development comes in the backdrop of US President Donald Trump freezing all financial aid abroad – including to Yunus’ interim government in Bangladesh.
This meeting, the second such recent interaction, between Alex and Yunus may well set alarm bell ringing in India.
But what happened? What happens next? And should India be worried?
Let’s take a closer look:
What happened?
As per NDTV, Alex, the chairman of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), met Yunus on Wednesday.
Alex during the meeting vowed to back the Bangladesh interim government’s reform efforts.
He also said that the student movement that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government last August offered “great opportunities” to chart a new course.
Alex was part of a delegation that included OSF president Binaifer Nowrojee.
Cybersecurity, the Rohingya crisis, and media freedom in Dhaka also came up during the meet, as per local media.
Daily Star reported that Alex lauded Yunus taking charge of Bangladesh at a difficult time. He also praised him for bringing in much needed reforms.
Yunus, meanwhile, thanked the OSF for its support. He added that there was much disinformation about the protests against the previous Hasina regime.
As per Moneycontrol, Yunus asked the Open Society Foundations to help Bangladesh recover around $234 billion illegally removed from the country during Hasina’s reign.
Yunus said Bangladesh would focus on rebuilding its economy, finding and bringing back, combat misinformation, and bringing in essential economic reforms.
“The Open Society Foundations leadership on Wednesday met Chief Adviser to discuss Bangladesh's efforts to rebuild the economy, trace siphoned-off assets, combat misinformation, and carry out vital economic reforms,” the Chief Adviser’s office wrote on social media.
This is the second meeting between Soros and Yunus since Hasina was ousted in August.
They earlier met on October 2, 2024 in New York.
Alex at the time, sharing photos of the meet on Instagram, called Yunus an “old friend of my father.”
“Delighted to see an old friend of my father and the foundation, Nobel Prize winner @professormuhammadyunus, interim leader of Bangladesh, who stepped in to lead Bangladesh towards a peaceful future based on equity and fairness,” Alex wrote.
As per The Times of India, Yunus and Soros have known each other for decades.
In 1999, Yunus got a $11 million loan from the OSF-backed Soros Economic Development Fund to let Grameen Telecom, a non-profit linked to Yunus, take a 35 per cent stake in Bangladesh’s biggest operator Grameenphone Ltd.
In December, ex-OSF president Mark Malloch-Brown met Yunus in Dhaka.
“Lord Mark Malloch-Brown calls on Chief Advisor Bangladesh ,” Yunus’ office wrote on X with a photograph from the meeting.
What happens next? Should India worry?
India may well be worried.
This is because Soros has been a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the OSF has been accused of supporting an independent Kashmir, according to The Tribune.
Despite Soros receiving the highest civilian award in the US from former president Joe Biden, he remains a figure of controversy.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has called him “old, rich and dangerous."
As per Al Jazeera, Soros during the Adani row had said developments “will significantly weaken” Modi’s “stranglehold” on the Indian government.
Smriti Irani at the time claimed Soros was trying to hurt “India’s democratic structure” and target Modi to protect his own interests.
“India has always defeated foreign powers whenever it was challenged and will continue to defeat them in the future too,” she added.
As per Moneycontrol, the OSF has been accused of regime change in Eastern Europe, West Asia and Latin America.
Some have even claimed the OSF played a role in Hasina’s downfall.
Hasina herself pointed the finger at the US but did not elucidate.
As per NDTV, a US state department official called such claims “absolutely false.”
Now, money from the OSF and Soros-backed groups may begin to flow into Bangladesh – influencing its future direction.
The development comes as Bangladesh’s interim government on Wednesday said that it would seek to scrap some “uneven agreements” on borders with India during the meeting of the directors general of the border guards of the two countries next month.
“Discussions will be held over all sorts of border-related agreements with India,” Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said.
He said the Bangladeshi side would seek to cancel “some uneven agreements” related to border management alongside and discuss other related issues.
The BJP had also accused Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of maintaining links with organisations that received funding from Soros.
“This association between Sonia Gandhi and an organisation that has backed the idea of Kashmir as an independent nation expresses the influence of foreign entities on India’s internal affairs and the political impact of such connections,” the BJP said in Parliament.
With inputs from agencies
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