Mohd Yunus: If only you had stayed away from politics...

A brief flirtation with politics cost Mohammad Yunus dear. In a world driven by perceptions, this could be a convenient conclusion on the Nobel laureate’s fall from grace.

On Friday, as the Supreme Court of Bangladesh put an end to his legal fight to regain the position of managing director of Grameen Bank, the perception appears to have assumed a ring of truth. The downhill journey for the pioneer in micro financing started with his plans to enter politics in 2007. Though he abandoned the idea quickly, it was enough to send alarm bells ringing in the political establishment.

It was a big miscalculation. The microfinance movement and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh thrived and prospered in the governance vacuum created by the political class. More than eight million customers, loans worth $10.3 billion and a recovery rate of around 97 percent – Grameen Bank was an astounding success story. The credit, of course, goes to Yunus. The access and reach of his brainchild was phenomenal. But the success, in a way, hinged on the fact that it avoided confrontation with politicians. But his decision created the occasion for confrontation.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was not quite graceful while accusing micro-finance institutions of “sucking blood from the poor”. “Grameen Bank had been grabbed in such a manner as if it’s a personal property. Poor people are becoming paupers. They have been tricked by sweet talk,’’ she said. The bad blood resulted in several probes against him. He came out unscathed though. Yunus was finally sacked as head of Grameen Bank by the Bangladesh central bank on 2 March 2011. Today’s Supreme Court decision marks the end of a bitter legal battle over the issue.

Time is up for Yunus. He and Grameen it seems, are paying the proverbial price for high-profile growth, feel many experts. But that chapter is closed. What next for the micro-finance movement? Experts feel politics will kill the movement and affect its growth. The countdown to uncertainty starts now.