Micro-credit expert Muhammad Yunus has become the seventh person to have received the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, said John Boehner, Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Also, Dr Yunus is the first Muslim and the first Bengali to have received all these three awards. He was presented the Congressional Gold Medal 17th April at the Capitol Rotunda.
The Bangla-speaking people are very proud and Facebook fans of Yunis, such as Jhulon Chowdhury in Dhaka, posted honouring comments for friends to share as he did of Nancy Pelosi’s speech:
“I was honoured to join my colleagues in Congress today to honour Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Laureate and “Banker to the Poor,” who combats global poverty by empowering women entrepreneurs across the world. Thank you, Professor Yunus, for challenging the conscience of the world and bringing hope for a better life to women and their families,” said the leader of Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.
Jhulon simply stated: “We are honoured too.”
Over one hundred congressmen and senators, of both houses, were present at the function. They were joined by top Obama administrators and others dealing with micro-credit and in the social sector.
Speaker Boehner said that the Congressional Medal awarded to Yunus had to be redesigned on the Nobel Laureate’s request to include an inscription in Bengali on one side of the medal. It says: “We have send poverty to the museum”.
Mr Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his contribution to the cause of global peace through his poverty alleviation efforts through micro-credit. In 2009, he received the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ from President Barack Obama.
“This is not an individual achievement. This is an achievement for the people of Bangladesh,” Yunus told bdnews24.com after receiving the Congressional Medal. “The micro-credit model has received global acceptance because people in Bangladesh gave it all-out support.”
“I dedicated this honour to the 160 million Bangladeshis, said Yunis.”
This is the first time that a Bangladeshi has been honoured by both the Senate and the US House of Representatives.
Yunus’ achievements also got praise Senator Mitch McConnel (leader of Republican Party in the Senate), Senator Harry Reid (leader of Democratic Party in Senate) besides House of Representative’s Speaker John Boehner.
