2024’s biggest revolution may yet devour its children

It was a fleeting honeymoon. When Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old caretaker leader of Bangladesh, took office after the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina as prime minister on August 5th, many in the country celebrated, especially the students who had led the uprising. Most Bangladeshis welcomed the Nobel laureate’s pledge to organise fair elections once he had completed enough structural reforms to curb the corruption and political violence that has long plagued the nation of 173m people. No matter that he set no timeline: he was building a “new Bangladesh”.