It would be audacity on my part to dissuade him from joining politics or organizing his own political party. Not only is he entitled to do so, but also because of his enviable credentials.

He is most definitely a very competent person, a wonderful organizer, entrepreneur par- excellence, and above all, renowned and influential both within and outside Bangladesh.

Despite my serious reservations about micro-credit, the honest professor's pet project, being glorified and touted as "micro-finance" by mega agents of finance capital as the panacea for poverty, I would have welcomed Dr Yunus in the arena of Bangladesh politics as the country badly needs honest and sincere people at the helm of statecraft.

I have absolutely no reservations about his lack of political experience. He would be most definitely a million times better than both the experienced and inexperienced crooked ones running the polity since1971. My only reservation is about his would be political associates.

I am sure, immediately after his joining politics and floating his own political party, scores of politicians, intellectuals, retired civil and military bureaucrats and members of the civil society would be joining him, apparently with a view to creating a corruption free Bangladesh.

I am, however, very skeptical about the intrinsic quality of most politicians and retired bureaucrats, who would outnumber intellectuals and members of the civil society in your political party.

You will have to be extremely lucky to get even ten percent of honest, sincere and patriotic elements in the politician-civil-military-bureaucrat nexus. And, as you know, due to various socio-economic reasons, intellectuals and so-called civil society members no longer represent people with impeccable character, honesty and integrity.

Many (if not most) of them represent and support this or that political party, mainly for the wrong reasons.

So, what I apprehend will happen is that within a few months of floating your political party, mainly with politicians and retired bureaucrats (at least 90 percent of them are corrupt or potentially corrupt), your party will not be any different from party X or party Y.

And you will lose your popularity, your image will be tarnished, and you will soon be turned into another member of the club run by people with insatiable greed, and the desire to rob the country through the game of politics.

If you believe that free and fair elections and democracy can get rid of corruption, inefficiency, and the perpetual state of chaos which often drags the country to the verge of total anarchy, I have nothing to say.

Personally, I do not believe that democratically elected governments run by corrupt and inefficient politicians who will always remain dominant in any elected government would bring peace, progress and prosperity to Bangladesh.

As we are witnessing today, even the un-elected, non-political caretaker government under Dr Fakhruddin cannot contain corruption despite all its efforts and good intentions.

You would simply be another failure in this regard if you try to right the wrong through so-called democracy or by floating a political party.

Since the bulk of the population is not averse to electing thieves, robbers, murderers and godfathers, and has no qualms about selling its votes to them, how do you think you will ever win elections to form a government with honest and efficient people?

Eventually, I am afraid Dr Yunus, you would have to accommodate known criminals, bank defaulters, murderers, smugglers and godfathers (too many and too risky to name them) in your party.

I have got two suggestions for you: a) create a pressure group with intellectuals, students and working class people so that the present caretaker government takes drastic action against all the corrupt elements, arrests hundreds of raghab boals and rui-katla, beyond this paltry number of twenty-odd politicians; and b) ask the government to appoint you as the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

You once envied Justice Sultanuddin on his becoming the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2005. You thought that containing and eliminating corruption in Bangladesh was the easiest job on earth.

I still remember your figurative expression that "one needs to lie down under the tree and corrupt elements, like ripe fruit, would drop into one's mouth." Please takeover as the chairman of the ACC.

If you want, I can write an open letter to President Iajuddin Ahmed and Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed to appoint you as the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. If you can eliminate corruption at every level, Bangladesh will not need a government by a Nobel Laureate like yourself for prosperity, growth and development.

Taj Hashmi is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.