Dhaka, May 10 (UNB) – Taking a swipe at Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam on Thursday said it will take more than thousand years to develop Bangladesh through NGOs and microcredit activities.
 
“There’s no instance that any country in the world has developed through NGOs and miocrocredit activities …we too won’t be able to achieve progress in the next one thousand years through NGOs and microcrdit activities,” he said.

The minister was addressing the inaugural function of a subsidy-money distribution programme among the farmers of cooperative society for the waiver of interest on agricultural loan. Rural Development and Cooperatives Division organised the programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC).

Without mentioning the name of Prof Muhammad Yunus, Ashraf said one gets the Nobel Peace Prize after engaging in microcredit programme. “Which war has he stopped with his activities and in which continent has he established peace through his microcredit programme?” he questioned.
 
“His areas of work is economics, but got the Nobel in peace,” Ashraf quipped.
 
About development of the country, the minister said coordinated efforts of all quarters are needed to achieve the desired development goal.        
 
These days, Ashraf said, people know how one gets the Nobel prize in peace and mentioned the name of an organisation, ‘Motherland Peace’ of Ireland.

“Two women established this organisation and won the Nobel in peace within two months. They ultimately engaged in quarrel over sharing the Nobel Prize money. Last of all, the matter went to the court and the peace vanished,” he said.
 
The Awami League general secretary was also critical about Hillary Clinton’s talks here with some youths in a programme, titled ‘Adda with Bangladesh’, during his recent visit to Bangladesh.
 
He said this was the Town Hall type programme. “Hillary held the talks with some so-called youths of the country, and a private TV channel broadcast it.”
 
During Hillary’s visit to Kolkata, she also held such a programme and it was aired by a TV channel. He also mentioned that the TV channel had aired the advertisement of this programme three days ago. “But in our country we didn’t know about that programme, even the day before,” he said.
 
In Kolkata’s programme, he said, no question came regarding the internal matter of India. “They talked about international politics and Iran issue,” he said.
 
But, Ashraf alleged, the moderator of Bangladesh’s programme (Munni Saha of ATN News) set the questions prior to the programme.
 
“In that programme, there was an attempt to undermine Bangladesh. In the programme, they tried to show Bangladesh as a small country, poor country and undemocratic country. This is disgraceful for the nation,” he said.
 
Ashraf said, “Only the organisers of this programme had been its beneficiaries, no one else.”