False statement attributed to Dr. Yunus spread on Facebook once again
A picture containing a speech of Dr. Muhammad Yunus is being posted on social media Facebook. The posts quoted Dr. Yunus saying, “It is now very important to establish democracy in the country; Otherwise, the youths of the country will be wicked soon, and Bangladesh will become a state of India. Now, regardless of political affiliation or ideology, we must join the fight to bring back democracy, ensuring that the unelected, illegitimate government has its day, and restoring people’s right to vote”. But the Yunus Center officially reported, this quote is baselessly entitled to Dr. Yunus.
When dismislab checked the claim, it discovered that neither the Bangladeshi media nor Dr. Muhammad Yunus’ official Facebook page or Twitter account had published anything similar.
The Yunus Centre, on their official Facebook page, termed the statement as baseless. The institution said, “… the quote which is being circulated on social media is completely baseless and false and is being spread with the intention of creating confusion.”
It has been seen that in 2016 and 2018, the speech was circulated in the name of Dr. Yunus from various Facebook pages, groups, and personal IDs. This year, the statement is also being posted and shared in the name of the same speaker.
Online searches revealed, however, that the same quote has been repeated frequently since 2016 under several different names or without any attribution. For instance, the exact message was circulated in 2016 in the name of Mejbuddin Farhad, a former BNP lawmaker from Barisal. The same speech was put online in 2017 with a picture of Tarique Rahman, the acting chairman of the BNP, but there was no mention of who said that.
In the past, in 2021, a fake quote about Al Jazeera and Bangladeshi journalism was spread on social media regarding Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Boom Bangladesh at that time published a report after having it verified.
