Former State Minister for Home Affairs Tanzim Ahmed Sohel Taj has strongly condemned the harassment of Professor Muhammad Yunus, former chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government, at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York, United States.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (October 13), Sohel Taj criticised several US-based members of the banned Awami League over the incident, saying, “This is Sheikh Hasina’s magic tablet,” referring to the former prime minister.

In his verified Facebook post, Sohel Taj wrote, “I was shocked to see the video of Professor Yunus being harassed at New York’s JFK Airport on the news. How shameless and brazen must one be to try to shift the blame onto someone else for the very mass killings, enforced disappearances, murders and corruption they themselves committed, after burying democracy and depriving people of their voting rights? This is the magic tablet of former autocratic fugitive Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. These people have lost their minds after taking this tablet.”

Sohel Taj also said psychologists and psychiatrists classify such behaviour into two categories: gaslighting and projection.

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse in which a person deliberately provides false information or denies events that have occurred, causing the victim to question their own memory, perceptions, judgment or mental well-being.

Psychological projection, on the other hand, is a defence mechanism in which individuals attribute their own unwanted or unacceptable thoughts, feelings, intentions or insecurities to others.

Earlier, several US-based individuals affiliated with the banned Awami League shouted at and made derogatory remarks towards Professor Yunus while he was in a wheelchair at JFK International Airport in New York on Monday (October 12), local time.

As he was passing through the airport lobby, they approached him, raised various allegations and repeatedly questioned him in a loud voice. They were heard making remarks such as, “Why you come here…” and directing further criticism at him over arrests in Bangladesh and the country’s political situation.

Considering the situation, people accompanying Yunus quickly escorted him to a secure area inside the airport.