Muhammad Yunus has returned to Dhaka, where he will take on the leadership of the interim government that will guide Bangladesh through a democratic process to elections following the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Bangladesh has created a new day of victory. Bangladesh is experiencing a second independence,” he declared to his supporters and journalists upon his landing at Dhaka airport, celebrating the “glorious day.”

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning 84-year-old economist, known as the “banker to the poor,” returns to his country from exile following violent anti-government riots that resulted in 400 deaths and the resignation and flight of Sheikh Hasina. He will be sworn in later today in a ceremony attended by a hundred people, according to a statement from the army chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, who expressed confidence on television that Muhammad Yunus would be able to successfully lead a democratic process for the benefit of the population.

Muhammad Yunus called for calm among his fellow citizens. “I ask you to avoid any form of violence… and to be ready to build the country.”

He promised in an interview with The Economist magazine that he would do everything possible to organize free and fair elections in the coming months. “But the youth must not become obsessed with settling scores, as many of our previous governments have done.”

“I have always kept my distance from politics… But today, if I must take action for Bangladesh, my country, and the courage of my people, then I will do it,” Muhammad Yunus told AFP just before his return, reiterating that organizing free elections is a duty.