Such Cheap and False Propaganda by a Nobel Laureate Prime Minister is Highly Distasteful

Opinion

For the past two days, a post has been circulating claiming that the current government has achieved remarkable feats in just seven months. The PR team of the government is heavily promoting this narrative, presenting several statistics without citing any sources. Of course, who cares about references? For the average Bengali, YouTube videos and Wikipedia are the ultimate sources of all truths.

One claim is that the government has repaid 62,000 crore taka in foreign loans over the past six months. Really? That’s 5.1 billion dollars? Wait, saying it in taka makes it sound more impressive. Adani was owed 850 million dollars and had threatened to cut off power if the debt wasn’t repaid. The government, which talks tough with India, didn’t dare cancel the contract. Instead, they requested more power. But let’s leave that aside. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the 62,000 crore taka was not used to repay the principal loan but rather the interest. Even more amusingly, only a small portion of this amount was for foreign loan interest. According to *Samakal*, “Out of this, 53,538 crore taka was spent on repaying domestic loan interest, and 9,022 crore taka on foreign loan interest.” (1) This means the government repaid domestic loan interest, which has nothing to do with foreign reserves. In November alone, Bangladesh Bank printed 22,500 crore taka to bail out six banks. (2)

The same post claims that remittance inflows have risen to 18.49 billion dollars, 4 billion more than the same period last year. A little digging reveals that this figure is also inaccurate. According to *The Daily Star*, “Remittance inflows to Bangladesh increased by 25% in February, reaching 2.52 billion dollars.” (3) Typically, remittances spike before Ramadan, Eid-ul-Adha, and Eid-ul-Fitr as expatriates send more money home. This isn’t my observation; *The Daily Star* reports, “The significant increase is due to expatriates sending more money than expected ahead of Ramadan and Eid.” (3)

The government claims to have recovered 635 crore taka from Sheikh Hasina and her family’s bank accounts. This is false. Newspapers report, “The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has frozen 124 bank accounts belonging to Sheikh Hasina, her family, and their associates, containing 635 crore 14 lakh taka.” (4) Freezing accounts and being able to use the funds are two different things. The government must first prove that the money was obtained illegally. Otherwise, they cannot simply “recover” funds from anyone, no matter how corrupt they are.

The post also states, “Subsidies on food products have increased by nearly 12%.” It’s unclear how this is a government achievement. Subsidies are necessary when income falls short of expenses. Essentially, if the cost of importing or producing food exceeds the selling price, the government must provide subsidies to stabilize the market. A 12% increase in subsidies means the government is importing food at higher prices. We already know that rice and sugar are being imported from Pakistan at inflated prices. (5)

This Ramadan, vegetable prices were somewhat bearable. Next year, they will be even more affordable due to winter vegetables. If someone else is in power next Ramadan, they can also tout this as a major success, just as the current government is doing. The relatively lower prices of some products are due to the increased subsidies mentioned earlier.

The post claims that inflation in February was the lowest in 22 months. However, the globally renowned credit rating agency Moody’s tells a different story. They have downgraded Bangladesh’s credit rating from ‘B1’ to ‘B2’, and the economic outlook has shifted from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’. (6)

It is claimed that investigations into rape cases will now be completed within 15 days, and trials within 90 days. While I applaud this decision, it will also make it easier to misuse the law. There will be an increase in false cases, with people exploiting the short timelines to frame others for personal gain. This could undermine genuine rape cases. We want swift justice for rapists, but it must be transparent.

FIFA has lifted the financial sanctions imposed on the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). Tabith Awal, a well-known football enthusiast, served as the BFF’s vice-president in 2012 and 2016. (7) His efforts in this regard are undoubtedly significant and commendable.

The most laughable claim in the post is the last one. It states that the UN Secretary-General is visiting Bangladesh for the “first time” on a four-day trip, made possible solely because of Yunus. The UN Secretary-General has visited Bangladesh multiple times before. The first visit by a UN Secretary-General was in 1973. (8) I don’t need to remind you who was the head of government at that time. Since then, several UN Secretaries-General have visited Bangladesh.

Such cheap and false propaganda by a Nobel Laureate Prime Minister is highly distasteful.

Sources:
1) https://tinyurl.com/mrezu82k
2) https://tinyurl.com/muzt4ukz
3) https://tinyurl.com/mrymrabp
4) https://tinyurl.com/yhyrbxwp
5) https://tinyurl.com/35nbrk74
6) https://tinyurl.com/jfyc6hmu
7) https://tinyurl.com/4yvh2u4e
8) https://tinyurl.com/33auyjws

– Saifur Rahman
Liberation War Researcher and Analyst