Announced on October 17, 2025, the July Charter is being paraded as a national reform — but it is, in truth, a calculated deception staged to protect one man. Behind the polished speeches and diplomatic applause lies a hollow truth: those who represent nearly 60% of Bangladesh’s population were completely excluded. The people who form the political and social backbone of the nation had no seat at the table.
In their place stood a carefully chosen group of elites—bureaucrats, foreign-approved consultants, and loyal NGO figures—assembled to manufacture legitimacy. What Yunus calls a “national consensus” was, in reality, a closed-door arrangement designed to please foreign observers and protect his own position.
This is not reform. It is a performance of democracy without the people. By excluding the country’s majority, Yunus has turned what should have been a national dialogue into a personal shield. The July Charter was never about rebuilding democracy—it was about rewriting the narrative to secure his escape.
The Missing Majority: A Charter of Exclusion
What took place on that October Friday was billed as a national reform, but in reality, it was a gathering without the nation. Most of Bangladesh’s major political parties refused to attend, a deliberate snub that exposed the Charter’s hollow legitimacy. Even the NCP, long touted as the so-called King’s Party, stayed away. With the true power centers absent, the document’s claim to represent the people was a fabricated lie.
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This was never a “charter of reform.” It was a charter of exclusion. Muhammad Yunus and his inner circle handpicked elites, academics, and NGO figures—compliant voices chosen not for their mandate, but for their obedience. These carefully selected participants created the illusion of national consensus, hiding the deliberate absence of the majority.
The people who form the backbone of Bangladesh’s democracy—their voices essential in shaping the nation—were completely shut out. Debate was scripted, dissent ignored, and legitimacy manufactured.
This was not a dialogue; it was a performance. The July Charter did not bring reform; it entrenched exclusion. Its sole purpose was clear: protect Yunus, project authority, and sell the illusion of change to the world. The nation itself was nowhere to be seen, and the so-called “reform” is nothing more than a staged farce.
Yunus’s Hidden Motive
The July Charter was never about Bangladesh. It was about Muhammad Yunus’s survival. Cornered by growing scrutiny over his failures and mounting criticism at home, Yunus orchestrated the Charter as a smokescreen—a way to rewrite his narrative and dodge accountability. Every clause, every polished paragraph, every foreign-approved nod was carefully designed to shield him from responsibility while presenting the illusion of reform.
Yunus sold the world a story of “national renewal,” but the truth is far uglier. Behind closed doors, the Charter was a self-serving plan, not a national blueprint. By handpicking elites and NGO figures, he ensured that those with real authority or independent judgment could not challenge him. Opposition voices were silenced, dissenting opinions excluded, and the majority of Bangladesh’s citizens ignored.
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This was not leadership. It was manipulation. Yunus used the Charter to secure a safe exit, portraying himself as a reformer while systematically stripping the people of their voice. He has weaponized foreign approval, polished language, and staged consensus to cover his tracks, turning a moment that should have strengthened democracy into a personal escape route.
The July Charter is not a document for the nation—it is a lifeboat for Yunus, a protective shell built on exclusion, deception, and theatrical legitimacy. The people were never the priority; he was.
The Foreign Theatre: How Yunus Misled the World
Muhammad Yunus has always known his real audience isn’t the people of Bangladesh—it’s the foreign press, the diplomats, and the donor class. The July Charter was crafted not for the nation’s citizens, but for Western approval. It was a calculated performance, designed to convince the world that Yunus was leading a noble democratic rescue while the reality at home told a very different story.
Through carefully worded briefings and selective leaks, Yunus sold an edited version of Bangladesh—a narrative where he was the reformer, the victim, the savior. He painted the Charter as an inclusive document forged through dialogue, knowing full well that most political voices had been excluded. Foreign media lapped it up, repeating his talking points without asking who was missing from the table.
Yunus exploited the international community’s distance from Bangladesh’s ground reality. He understood their appetite for a clean hero—a man who speaks their language, flatters their ideals, and fits their headlines. And so he gave them a spectacle: a “reform” movement built on photo-ops, staged endorsements, and empty symbolism.
But beneath the diplomatic smiles lies a cruel truth—the July Charter was never meant to fix democracy; it was meant to fix Yunus’s image. While he courted the West with tales of moral leadership, the people he claimed to represent were silenced, sidelined, and ignored.
This was not foreign diplomacy; it was a deception campaign, a public-relations war waged on the global stage to hide domestic failure. Yunus didn’t just mislead the world—he weaponized it against his own nation.
The Coming Danger: When the Same Hands Hold the Future
If this is what Yunus and his circle could do with the July Charter—silencing the majority, faking legitimacy, and deceiving the world—then what will happen when these same hands take charge of a national election or a so-called national unity process? The answer is chilling. Those who destroyed credibility in the name of reform cannot possibly deliver democracy. Those who built exclusion into the foundation of a charter will build the same exclusion into the nation’s future.
The July Charter exposed the real mindset of this unelected elite—a belief that democracy can be staged, that representation can be faked, and that power can be negotiated behind closed doors. If Yunus could bypass the country’s majority once, what will stop him from doing it again when the stakes are higher?
A national election led by this same group would not be an exercise in democracy; it would be an extension of the deception. The same actors, the same playbook, the same outcome—Bangladesh’s people left voiceless while the world applauds another carefully written script.
National unity under Yunus’s leadership is a contradiction in terms. You cannot unite a country by silencing it. You cannot rebuild democracy by bypassing the people. And you cannot restore legitimacy through manipulation.
By albd.org
English