Published: 12:07 AM, 24 May 2026
Farhad Mazhar blames three interim advisers for miserable failure
Poet and thinker Farhad Mazhar has claimed that he sent his wife, Farida Akhtar, to serve in the interim government of Dr. Muhammad Yunus as part of a "strategic struggle." He also said that for the same reason, he had encouraged Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, and Mahfuz Alam to become part of the interim government.
However, Farhad Mazhar alleged that these three advisers failed both in carrying out their responsibilities and in creating a "new settlement."
He made these remarks on Friday (22 May 2026) during a talk show hosted by journalist Khaled Muhiuddin.
Although he strongly criticized the activities of Dr. Yunus's government, Farhad Mazhar was asked whether he should have discouraged his wife, Farida Akhtar, from serving as an adviser in that government. In response, he claimed that for strategic reasons he had encouraged Farida Akhtar, Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Mahfuz Alam to join the interim government.
Explaining the matter, he said: "I told my wife, Mahfuz, Nahid, and Asif to remain in that government (the interim government). This was a strategic question. I am not stupid, so I have to continue this struggle. If my wife had not gone there, what major change would it have made? Because of being part of that struggle, I can now at least tell you some information about certain ministries.
"Whether anything else happened or not, I now have a complete picture of how the fisheries and livestock sector should be restructured."
Farhad Mazhar said: "I have to help build Bangladesh. Those who do nothing ask these idle questions that have no logic. This is part of a struggle. In a struggle, there will be some strategies and some principles.
"The question of principle is this: when my wife was in the government, I said exactly what I am saying now. I am not saying anything new. She carried on her struggle and did her work. If she made any mistakes in the ministry or failed to run her ministry properly, then tell me that. We will certainly criticize her."
Farhad Mazhar also strongly criticized the roles of the three student representatives who joined the interim government. He directly referred to his own influence over the three former advisers.
He said: "I repeatedly told Nahid to run the ministry properly. Why did I say that? Nahid will surely hear this from me. I told them that if they failed to run the ministries properly, then in the future I would not be able to support appointing young people of their age to ministerial positions. They had received such a huge opportunity, such a historic opportunity that no one gets. But none of them managed the ministries properly. I am now raising this complaint publicly."
Farhad Mazhar also expressed disappointment with Asif Mahmud's performance. He said:
"Asif did not run any ministry. Now allegations of corruption are emerging against him. We did not want to hear these things. We wanted them to prove that they were capable of running a ministry."
Raising allegations of failure against another adviser, Mahfuz Alam, Farhad Mazhar said:
"Mahfuz also did not run the ministry. He did not do any of the things he should have done for his friends. All the media outlets that Mahfuz approved during his tenure belonged to the Awami League. So how can he now speak about the return of the Awami League?
"He was repeatedly told to launch a television channel. He was in charge at the time. He was told to start newspapers and support those genuinely connected to the mass uprising. But he did nothing."
Expressing frustration, Farhad Mazhar said: "You now see Awami League activists becoming active again - that happened during his (Mahfuz Alam's) tenure. Now he is issuing grand messages saying Awami League is returning, but that happened because of him.
"If you want to confront the Awami League, you first have to deal with it ideologically. You have to critique Bengali nationalism. You have to explain how Bengali nationalism transformed into a form of fascism here. Instead, you went against 1971."
