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Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus says the call to lead Bangladesh’s interim government and take charge of the nation left him “dazzled.”
"I had no idea I'd be leading the government," he told the BBC in an interview. "I had never run a government machine before and had to get the buttons right.
After more than six months of assuming the role, Yunus commented that law and order restoration and fixing the economy are the top priorities on the interim government’s reformation agenda.
The interim government has also announced plans to arrange a national election this December, but the date can shift to March 2026 if it takes longer to implement the reformation plans, he said, as per a bdnews24.com report.
However, they have not specified if the deposed Awami League and its president, Sheikh Hasina, can participate in the polls.
The recently ousted prime minister is currently in exile in India, while arrest warrants are out for her crimes against humanity in Bangladesh.
Entrusting the Election Commission with the decision, Yunus told the BBC that: "They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them".
Yunus assumed the role of interim leader after Hasina was forced out of office in a student-led mass movement.
The former premier is currently charged with human rights violations that took place in her government’s alleged attempts to suppress anyone who politically opposed her.
Comparing the 16-year Hasina regime to a “terrible tornado”, the Chief Advisor said, "We are coming from complete disorder."
He blamed the former government for the current state of instability in Bangladesh.
He asserted that the current situation in Bangladesh, which has seen surging news of robberies, rape and killings, is the same as it was before. "If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay,” Yunus told the BBC. "What is happening right now, is no different than any other time."
The interim leader also said, "I am not supporting that these things should happen. I'm saying that, you have to consider, we are not an ideal country or an ideal city that suddenly we made. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, a country that's been running for many, many years."
The chief advisor also acknowledged the safety issues surrounding the members and associates of the Awami League. The party’s associates have been the target of regular acts of violence, such as robbery, arson, and murder, since August.
In February, a number of Awami League members' residences were vandalised and burned, including the house of Hasina's late father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh.
Regarding their claims of insecurity, the chief advisor defended his government.
"There's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint," said Yunus. "You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course."
Focusing on the future, Yunus also commented on the Trump administration’s decision to cut off funds in Bangladesh’s development sector. He said he appreciated the US’s international development projects.
"It's been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn't afford right away."
Despite the pressing need for foreign aid to revitalise reformation efforts, he left it to the US government as “their decision.”
When asked how Bangladesh intends to bounce back from this setback, he told the BBC: "When it happens, we will make do."