Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on Thursday took oath as the chief advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government.

The position is equivalent to the prime minister. The oath was administered by President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

On Monday, Sheikh Hasina resigned as the country’s prime minister and fled to India amid widespread protests against her Awami League-led government.

Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman had announced the formation of an interim government on Monday. Organisers of the student protests had proposed to appoint Yunus as the head of the interim government.

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Yunus, 84, accepted the proposal and arrived in capital Dhaka on Thursday from Paris. He was welcomed by Waker-Uz-Zaman, the student protest leaders and senior officials, among others.

At a press conference at the airport, Yunus expressed gratitude to the country’s youth who made the agitation against Hasina successful, PTI reported.

Yunus said that the collapse of Hasina’s government was the country’s “second independence”.

“We have got independence for the second time,” he said. “We have to protect this independence.”

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Yunus, an entrepreneur and economist, said that the priority of the interim government will be to restore law and order and stop attacks against minority communities, Prothom Alo reported.

“It is our duty to protect all,” he was quoted as saying. “Everyone is our brother and sister. Disorder is our big enemy.”

The country has reported incidents of violence ahead of the formation of an interim government.

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Yunus said that the attacks against minorities could have been part of a conspiracy, Reuters reported. He did not say who was behind the conspiracy.

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He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for creating “economic and social development from below”. He founded the Grameen Bank, a community development bank, and pioneered the concept of microcredit.

Also read: After the sacking of Sheikh Hasina, can the young people of Bangladesh bring real change?