On December 10, 2006, in Oslo City Hall, Taslima Begum received the medal and diploma alongside Yunus. She had joined Grameenโs board and, in 1992, had taken a loan of just $18 to buy a goat; that goat became the starting point of her journey out of poverty, a story shared by millions of Grameen borrowers.
Yet within months of returning home, in 2007, she was removed from Grameen Bankโs board on the alleged grounds of โviolating loan conditions.โ Analysts and former insiders say the charge was fabricated. The real motive, they claim, was to silence any future reminder that the Nobel was jointly awarded. By pushing Taslima aside, Yunus ensured the spotlight would stay on him alone.
The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony 2006
Today, Taslima Begum lives in a dilapidated house in Pirgacha village, Rajshahi. There is no electricity, no proper medical care, only memories. Her photograph has been quietly deleted from Yunusโs official websites and from most Grameen publications, as if she never existed. The woman who once embodied the victory of poor women on the worldโs most prestigious stage is now herself a victim of poverty and neglect.
The Original Theft: Yunus Hijacked Microcredit Itself
The tragedy of Taslima Begum is only the visible tip of a much deeper deception.
Ex-NSI Officer: 50-year-old documents prove Yunus hijacked microcredit idea
How Yunus and โGrameenโ are benefitting from his position as the โChief Adviserโ
Yunus and Grameen Bank won Nobel despite massive blunders, injustice
Former National Security Intelligence (NSI) officer Aminul Hoque Polash, now living in exile in Europe, has released original documents from 1976โ1983 that demolish Yunusโs lifelong claim that he single-handedly invented microcredit.
Key revelations from the documents:
– The famous Jobra village experiment was an official action-research project of Chittagong Universityโs Rural Economics Programme (REP), funded by a $100,000 Ford Foundation grant (1976โ1978).
– The microcredit model and field trials were designed and executed by junior researchers Swapan Adnan, Nasiruddin, and H.I. Latifee.
– Yunus, then Head of the Economics Department, was only in charge of the deep-tubewell cooperative component.
– A project proposal dated May 15, 1979, personally signed by Yunus himself, openly admits the work was a university project.
– By 1978, Bangladesh Bank had already adopted the university model, allocated Tk 100 crore, and rolled it out nationwide through Krishi Bank and Sonali Bank, long before Yunus formally separated Grameen as an independent entity.
– A June 6, 1983 letter from the Ford Foundation to Chittagong University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Abdul Aziz Khan confirms the grant was given to the university, not to Yunus personally.
Polashโs verdict is blunt: โHe never wrote the proposals, never negotiated the grant, never ran the field trials. He simply waited, pushed the real researchers aside, and hijacked the entire project.โ
One man, two facesโhow Yunus hijacked the state to enrich Grameen
Poverty as Business: The Grameen Bank and Yunus Center Phenomenon
Dr. Yunus: A portrait of self-interest and deception
The Nobel Prize that made Yunus a global icon was built on someone elseโs intellectual labour.
From Thief to De Facto Ruler
Having stolen the idea fifty years ago, Yunus is now using unconstitutional state power to make the Grameen empire richer than ever.
In just 15 months as the unelected Chief Adviser:
– October 3, 2024: The High Court mysteriously cancels its own earlier ruling; Grameen Kalyan is forgiven Tk 666 crore ($54.8 million) in back taxes.
– October 10, 2024: The National Board of Revenue grants Grameen Bank full tax exemption until 2029 on all income, including property rentals and interest.
– A draft ordinance is ready to slash the governmentโs stake in Grameen Bank from 25% to 5% and reduce government directors from three to one, handing total control to Yunus loyalists.
– Every single court case against Yunus has been dismissed since August 2024: labour-law violations (6-month sentence overturned the day before he was sworn in), corruption, yoghurt adulteration, and more.
– Exclusive licences issued only to Grameen companies: digital wallet licence to Grameen Telecomโs Samadhan Services (January 2025) and overseas manpower export licence to Grameen Employment Services/Yunus Center (March 2025).
– Blatant nepotism: Yunusโ nephew Apurba Jahangir appointed Deputy Press Secretary with zero media experience; long-time aide Lamiya Morshed made high-level SDG representative.
While factories shut down, inflation hits 15%, and minorities flee Islamist violence, the Grameen brand has never been wealthier, all because the man who stole the original idea in 1976 now controls the entire state apparatus.
Two Worlds, One Betrayal
One world: Yunus, jet-setting, giving speeches, collecting honours, building a personal empire on a jointly awarded Nobel and a stolen idea.
The other world: Taslima Begum, living in a broken hut without electricity, forgotten by the very institution she once represented on the global stage.
This cruel contrast is the real story of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The woman who symbolised the poor borrowers, the real owners of Grameen Bank, has been erased so that one man could claim sole ownership of their collective victory.
Bangladesh is left with burning questions:
– Does the Nobel belong to Grameenโs poor women, or has it been privatised by one man?
– Who will take responsibility for Taslima Begumโs silent, living death?
– Was turning a joint prize into a personal propaganda tool the ultimate betrayal?
Taslima Begumโs tears carry the pain of millions of women whose emotions were turned into capital for a corporate empire. The higher Yunusโs empire rises, the deeper Taslimaโs darkness becomes.
History will not forgive this deception. The truth must finally come to light.
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