“In a quiet way, you can do great things.” — Mahatma Gandhi
The 2025 edition of the prestigious Time magazine’s Time 100 list conferred one of the highest such honors of influence on Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus to recognize him not just for past success as a social entrepreneur but for leadership and enduring moral authority at one of the most pivotal moments of Bangladesh’s modern history.
This article explores the broader significance of the Dr. Yunus listing—its symbolic and material effect on the international image of Bangladesh, its South Asian regional leadership connotation, and its appeal to an age of global opinion growing increasingly wary of populism and politics of power. In an era when South Asian democracies are tested by authoritarian forces, economic disparities, and social polarization, Dr. Yunus is a model of values-based leadership driven by compassion, innovation, and civic values.
Specifically, his name is the only one of a South Asian on the list—and no Indian, India being the largest democracy and economic titan of the region, was among them. The contrast points to a desirable international reality: the world is less drawn to overbearing and display now and more drawn to those who lead people to greatness with humility, purpose, and unshakeable moral commitment.
In honoring Dr. Yunus, Time has confirmed a very resolute message that resonates far and wide across borders: that true power is never gauged by ranks or by money but by the willingness to lead with one’s conscience and the imagination to change society for the good.
Why Was Dr. Muhammad Yunus Selected: The Representative of Ethical Leadership and Transformative Innovations
The inclusion of Dr. Muhammad Yunus in Time magazine’s roster of 100 of the world’s most influential people in 2025 confirms not only his trail-blazing legacy but, above all, his unwavering vision for justice and humanitarian leadership in resurgent Bangladesh’s democratic and socio-economic life.
Dr. Yunus has been known as a poverty fighter and a warrior against social exclusion for the last three decades. As the founder of Grameen Bank, he pioneered the idea of microfinance—offering collateral-free loans to poor people, including women—allowing tens of millions to become entrepreneurs who increasingly left poverty behind. His vision reshaped the world discussion on economic development and earned him the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. His legacy, however, did not stop within the circle of social entrepreneurship; it grew and progressed to incorporate political and ethical leadership on a national basis.
It was at a turning point in early 2025, after a rebel revolt by youth after several decades of political repression, corruption, and poverty resulting from the economy being mismanaged, that Dr. Yunus ascended to a top level of governance. During the Time of civic unrest and constitutional crisis in Bangladesh, he took on the extraordinary task of heading an interim unity government. Far from a masterful political gesture, it was a moral obligation due to their six-decade-long struggle for justice, dignity, and participatory government.
He has led the caretaker government to adopt a values-based and ambitious agenda: to restore the integrity of democratic institutions, implement universal electoral reform, strengthen judicial independence, destroy entrenched corruption webs, and make progress on reconciliation. His government has forcefully acted to bring abuse of rights to an end, bring the wrongdoers to book, and resuscitate the process of the rule of law—action universally welcomed at home and abroad.
Dr. Yunus has applied the same ethical values and people-oriented vision to public service, which has informed his social business philosophy. His dedication to non-partisan, people-oriented government has revived civic society, restored public trust, and set a powerful example of values-led democratic leadership uncorrupted by vested interests.
As Time magazine so aptly expressed it in its citation:
“Where in the world are democracies largely on the backfoot, Yunus is the one who is reminding us that power comes from compassion, principle, and innovation.”
His leadership subscribes to the ageless values of Mahatma Gandhi:
“The greatest way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of other people.”
Dr. Yunus has not merely found himself in service—his life is an inspiration because he has inspired a whole nation to take back its own voice, dignity, and purpose. His is a unique example of the convergence of moral vision, intellectual rigor, and visionary action at a time when such leadership is most urgently required—not only for Bangladesh but for the entire global South.
Implications for Bangladesh: A Moment of Worldwide Revindication and Moral Resurrection
Time magazine’s inclusion of Dr. Muhammad Yunus in the 2025 100 Most Influential People is more than an individual honor—it is a national victory, a collective vindication, and a deep sense of pride for Bangladesh. Amidst a global geopolitical environment in which the nation had been long dominated by news of democratic backsliding, human rights abuses, and militarization, this listing represents a paradigm-breaking change in how Bangladesh is viewed internationally. It represents an empowering reclaiming of the nation’s global prestige and moral authority.
- Restoring Bangladesh’s Moral Image
Over the last several years, Bangladesh has drawn repeated international condemnation for its slide into illiberal democracy: open repression of the media, endemic election rigging, politicization of the judiciary, and rampant corruption have undermined the country’s democratic institutions. The global media regularly named the state in stories about limiting free expression and narrowing civic space. That is not the case with Dr. Yunus’s ascension to international status, particularly as the leader of an interim government that evolved out of an unarmed, youth-led revolution.
This choice by Time sends one clear message: Bangladesh not only comes up with world-class poverty formulas but also provides moral leadership through transparency, justice, and inclusivity. It puts the nation beyond a bad model and as a model of civic resilience and values-led transformation.
As Kofi Annan once said,
You are never too young to be a leader or old to learn.
At 84 years old, Dr. Yunus has shown that there is no age for moral leadership and that a nation’s salvation can start in the integrity of one who insists on remaining with justice.
- Bangladeshi Soft Power Emerges
Dr. Yunus’s international stature and inclusion in the Time 100 list really add to Bangladesh’s soft power worldwide. Unlike hard power, which relies on military or economic might, soft power relies on values, culture, and moral leadership. To this extent, Yunus is the ideal representative of Bangladesh’s intellectual and moral capital.
While the world increasingly acknowledges and appreciates his leadership, Bangladesh has opportunities to gain development cooperation deals, forge strategic alliances, and speak out in multilateral networks. Foreign investors, civil society, and universities are more open to engaging with an emerging Bangladesh seen as potentially progressive, rights-respecting, and civically active.
Yunus’s vision of leadership—rooted in humility, transparency, and global collaboration—is a leadership that is converging the Global South and bridging gaps between emerging economies and international institutions.
- Youth and Civil Society Empowerment
The most uplifting aspect of Dr. Yunus’s victory might be the authority it lends Bangladesh’s youth and civil society to act as a force of democratic change. The young professionals and students’ revolution of July 2024 closed a historic exit from the politics of fear and indecision. Dr. Yunus became the inspirational leader of that movement—by no intent on his part but simply by the role history conferred upon him.
His international fame sanctions the strength of nonviolent civic activism and lends faces to the voices who protested for justice, education reform, accountability, and liberty. His achievement motivates the newer generation of Bangladeshi youths to believe that their actions may go a great distance beyond borders, reflecting the image of Bangladesh in the minds of the international community.
Things never seem achievable until they become done.
For the Bangladeshis, the revolution they once considered impossible is now unfolding—led by one whose own life has been so intertwined with the country’s aspirations for dignity, justice, and international respect.
A New Vision
Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s presence on Time’s 2025 is more than a career milestone—it is the world’s recognition of a nation’s maturity. It is a seal of approval that once shrouded in political darkness, Bangladesh is emerging once more as a country of intention, principle, and people-led change. Through his eyes of leadership, people see the world differently: one no longer defined by conflict and oppression but by fearlessness, imagination, and moral principle.
A bitter disparity: The absence of Indian names on TIME 100 – Reflection for South Asia
The exclusion of any Indian from Time magazine’s esteemed 2025 list of 100 most influential people is a dramatic counterpoint to Bangladesh’s Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s inclusion. In the context of India as the world’s largest democracy, fifth-largest economy, and pre-eminent geopolitical player in the Indo-Pacific region, this exclusion is no surprise at all—it is symbolically significant. It is a sign of increasing global unease with the direction of leadership, government, and values in Asia’s largest country.
- Democratic Backsliding in India: An Emerging Global Issue
India, the one-time shining example of a democratic nation and a model of pluralism, has faced growing international criticism of democratic decline. The past decade has witnessed international observers such as Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, and the Economist Intelligence Unit downgrade India’s democratic reputation due to the following: the erosion of press freedom, muzzling of opposition, intimidation of judges, and increasing religious intolerance.
The ascendancy of majoritarian politics premised on hyper-nationalist ideologies, has propelled rising polarization and minority marginalization, especially that of Muslims, Dalits, and dissenters. Journalists have been imprisoned, academic freedoms restricted, and autonomous institutions consistently undermined.
In its silence, the TIME 100 list loudly says that missing Indian voices aren’t an oversight but a gauge of global alarm at the collapse into authoritarianism of the nation. It is, to quote one such great author himself being cognizant of the dangers of free speech, a reflection of the fact that “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” India, the erstwhile stronghold of free-thinking, is now a land where the latter is coming under growing attack.
- The Soft Power Decline: From Technological Supremacy to Ethical Dissonance
As it continues to develop phenomenally in fields like space exploration, digital technology, pharma, and defense, India’s soft power, characterized by intellectual domination, cultural diplomacy, and moral leadership, is discovered to be on the decline.
India’s international reputation has long been enhanced by Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Jawaharlal Nehru—those who embodied ideals of humanism and transcended geographical constraints by spreading peace, knowledge, and justice. Today, India does not have such an internationally renowned humanitarian or reformer who people across the world universally love.
In contrast, Dr. Muhammad Yunus is the embodiment of values-driven leadership. His social business model, commitment to human dignity, and values-first governance represent a welcome antidote to world politics’ transnationalism. Yunus’s inclusion on this list is thus significant: the world is now beginning to reward those prioritizing people over publicity, service over self-interest.
- A Symbolic Leadership Vacuum in India: Polarization Over Principle
The crisis of leadership in India is one of faith, not competence. India has an unimaginably large reservoir of talent to be drawn from in science, academia, arts, and activism. But the space in the public sphere has been dominated by populism, cults of personality, and polarization.
Dr. Yunus’s award is a quiet but strong rebuke of this movement. His selection indicates that the world craves healing leadership, not polarizing leadership, leadership that unites, not leadership that divides. It suggests that 21st-century leadership is more directly linked with moral vision, compassion, and moral clarity.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said
The actual test of a man is where he stands in times of adversity and hardship, not where he stands in times of convenience and consensus.
Dr. Yunus stood with the people of Bangladesh in their times of greatest despair, and he demonstrated courage, humility, and vision—qualities still lacking today among those in authority over much of South Asia.
A Regional Reality Check
The exclusion of Indian names in the Time 100 list and the elevation of Dr. Muhammad Yunus are a denunciation and an appeal for reflection. This accolade proves that international acceptance is no longer achieved by the mere increase in GDP alone but by the tendency of a nation to embrace justice, equality, and human dignity.
Materially, Indian dominance in the subcontinent continues unopposed, but morally it is exercised by others—others who lead and do not want to be powerful, who unite people and do not want to divide, and who energize and do not inspire fear. The Dr. Yunus award redefines power as it is exercised today, offering us an alternative way forward for Bangladesh, yes, for South Asia as a whole.
A Wider Message for South Asia
The recognition bestowed upon Dr. Yunus sends a message beyond borders:
- Redefining Leadership: Amidst regional dominance by dynastic politics and military-backed governments, Dr. Yunus presents an alternative model of leadership based on service over self.
- Rekindling South Asian solidarity: Yunus’s record of building peace, from Bangladesh to Global South cooperations, is sharply juxtaposed with intra-regional rivalry and domestic divisions. His legacy amounts to an appeal to the South Asian states to re-establish collaboration on the basis of commonalities.
- Spurring People-Led Reform: His death is a testament to the power of people’s movements. It galvanized the people’s movement across the region, in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, to continue calling for justice, accountability, and participatory government.
Conclusion: A Victory of Values Over Interests
Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s inclusion on Time magazine’s 2025 list of the 100 most influential people is more than personal recognition—it is a declaration of the type of leadership the world requires in this era of doubt. It is an international affirmation of a legacy founded not on political ambition or wealth but on unshakeable integrity, limitless compassion, and prophetic advocacy of the human person’s dignity.
For Bangladesh, it is a historic reaffirmation of national identity, taking its place as a nation that can produce values-based leadership who govern through service. It is a redemptive watershed after decades of democratic backsliding and global unease, bringing a renaissance founded on the values of justice and civic responsibility citizenship.
To South Asia, the award is a moral mirror and an urgent wake-up call. In a time of power-grabbing, polarization, and populism, Dr. Yunus is an exception to the rule—a human being who wins by bringing people together, not splitting them apart, by inspiring hope, not generating fear.
For the rest of the world, Nelson Mandela’s addition to this list serves as a reminder that influence has nothing to do with press coverage, military might, or GDP rankings. It has everything to do with giving voice to the voiceless, restoring confidence in public life, and restructuring society on the principles of justice, compassion, and fairness.
It is at this critical juncture in South Asian history that there dawns upon us Dr. Yunus, a shining example of morality—a statesman of mature age whose grandeur only grows with each passing year, humility, and unerring vision for the shared fate of humanity. As the great American writer and civil rights legend Maya Angelou once penned:
I have learned that people remember what you said and did, but they never forget the way you made them feel.
Dr. Yunus has helped the world see, hear, and empower millions, carving out not only his place in history but also the hearts of people all over the world.