The interim government taught youth to crave power: Hossain Zillur

Hossain Zillur Rahman, who served as an adviser to the 2007-08 caretaker government, has identified three areas in which the interim government, formed amid high public expectations after the July uprising, has failed. According to him, one of those failures is that it has made young people power-hungry.

Rahman said that the government led by Muhammad Yunus had guided young people in the wrong direction. He argued that it had taught them "to crave power."

He made these remarks on Saturday morning at a discussion event held at a hotel in the capital. The event was organised by SOAS Anti-Corruption Evidence, an international anti-corruption research consortium run by SOAS University of London.

SOAS professors Mushtaq Khan and Pallavi Roy presented two papers on the 1/11 political period (the 2007 military-backed caretaker government) and the July uprising, respectively, at the event.

In 2007, a state of emergency was declared in Bangladesh amid a political crisis. Hossain Zillur Rahman served as an adviser to the caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, which remained in office for two years.

Nearly two decades later, following the 2024 uprising led by young people that brought an end to the Awami League's "fascist rule," an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus assumed office. After serving for a year and a half, the government stepped down in February after organising a general election. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to power through the election.

According to Hossain Zillur Rahman, the interim government's three principal failures were: incorporating bureaucrats into the government, providing misguided direction to young people, and abandoning its own reform agenda.

He further said that, over time, young people had developed a growing attraction to political power.

Rahman argued that the Yunus government failed to provide proper guidance to the youth. As a result, there has been a major shortfall in fostering discipline and cultivating long-term leadership. He also said that a tendency has emerged in society to regard education as less important.
In his view, the government''s compromise with the bureaucracy became an obstacle to the state reform agenda that had been championed during the July uprising.

Rahman said the interim government failed to recognise when bold and fundamental reform measures were needed. Instead, it chose a conservative and risk-averse approach from the outset. Rather than dismantling the old bureaucratic structure, it appointed officials from the same bureaucracy to key positions. Consequently, instead of bringing about the desired changes, the existing system was largely preserved.

The former adviser also said that although the interim government repeatedly emphasised reform in its rhetoric, it lacked genuine commitment to carrying it out. As a result, he argued, the opportunity for meaningful reform was not fully utilised.

Rahman added that the Yunus government popularised the term "reform," yet ignored the recommendations made by the reform commissions that it had established itself. "They threw them into the dustbin," he said. "They simply played a ''reform game.''