As the Bangladeshi supreme court on Tuesday adjourned for two weeks its hearing on Nobel laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus' plea against a high court order upholding his removal from the Grameen Bank, Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) pledged their support to Yunus's reinstatement.

This support took form as  a petition under the umbrella of Sa-dhan, an association of microfinance institutions. “People wanted to express their support for what was happening in Bangladesh. This petition will be signed by people here and submitted to bank,” Mathew Titus, executive director of Sa-dhan told Governance Now.

Representatives of different MFIs and individual persons signed the petition during the two-day conference organised by Sa-dhan in New Delhi. “Prof Yunus has been removed as MD of Grameen Bank. This event has pained people from the microfinance sector all across the world,” said the petition titled ‘Let’s support the vision of Prof. Yunus’.

Yunus was supposed to be one of the guest speakers at the conference in New Delhi. “We need him now, more than ever to help guide us in our search for improved products, services and delivery models to bring meaningful change to lives of poor and downtrodden,” the petition highlighted Yunus contribution to MFIs.

The global MFIs are also peeved at the unceremonious way Yunus was removed. Cautious in his remarks, Richard Weingarten, managing director of Norwegian Microfinance Initiative told Governance Now, “Prof. Yunus contribution to MFIs has been extraordinary for overall very long period of time. His stature in the industry should be something preserved. On the other hand, I would hope that professor Yunus will not be lost to the industry because he is very valuable global industry player.”

He was removed last month as the head of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh on grounds that he had past the legal retirement age of 60. He is now 70. But many in Bangladesh feel that Yunus was sacked because of politics and adverse remarks made by Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who called him “blood sucker of poor.”

For the last few months, MFIs at many places of world have been under scanner. In India too, the functioning of MFIs came under question in Andhra Pradesh where many deaths occurred and was alleged that high rate of interest led lenders to the extreme steps of suicide.

Yunus was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2006 for his outstanding work in MFIs, where his founded bank provided loans to poor people who do not qualify for standard bank loans in Bangladesh.