West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is being attacked by the BJP for his views against the Union government after Visva Bharati, a central university, named the 87-year-old laureate among squatters on its land.
Banerjee last week had written a letter to Sen expressing her anguish after the 100-year-old central university had said that Sen’s family was in “illegal” possession of land on the campus. “Amartya Sen is being attacked for his views against the Union government. This is completely unacceptable. Just like, I am being attacked for my political views,” she said while talking to reporters on Monday.
Sen has written to Banerjee, thanking her for the support, and said her strong voice is a tremendous source of strength for him. The noted economist has accused the Visva Bharati vice chancellor of acting at the behest of the Centre “with its growing control over Bengal”.
The Nobel laureate has denied the charge of illegal occupation, and said that the land in question was registered in records on a long-term lease. Sen has a family house – “Pratichi” – in Santiniketan, built by his maternal grandfather Kshitimohan Sen, a scholar and an associate of Tagore.
Earlier, speaking to a newspaper, Sen had said that a big gap exists between the Santiniketan culture and that of the VBU vice-chancellor.
“Having been born and brought up in Santiniketan, I could comment on the big gap between Santiniketan culture and that of the VC, empowered as he is by the central government in Delhi, with its growing control over Bengal. I would prefer to use Indian laws as they exist,” said Sen.
The BJP had then hit out at the Nobel laureate, saying that he “should not work on the advice of failed chief minister”.
“We respect him. But he should not be seen as the spokesperson of a group. He should not speak on behalf of any party. People of Bengal will gain from his intelligence and insight, but if he works on the advice of a failed chief minister, people will think otherwise. People will think that was it wrong to give him the award,” Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said.
“His ideology is that of the Communists. It is the communists who have forced politics into everything. Communists brought politics even in educational institutions. The government blessed by him is spreading violence in the state,” Ghosh added.
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