New Delhi, July 25
A major slugfest erupted today over BJP MP Chandan Mitra’s demand for stripping Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of the Bharat Ratna and the economist offering to return it if Atal Bihari Vajpayee asks him to do so.

While the BJP steered clear of the controversy, the Congress waded into it with an attack saying it reflected the “fascist mentality” of the BJP.

“Chandan Mitra may not know that the Bharat Ratna was given to me by the BJP-led government and was handed to me by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If Vajpayee wants me to return it, I will certainly return it,” Amartya Sen told a news channel. He said it was unfortunate that such a demand had come forth and termed it as a “personal” view of Mitra.

“To get into a political debate and somebody takes a view which seems to me is rather unfair...to all the people as well....I think it is unfortunate....It is so unproductive actually,” Sen said.

He added that during the BJP-led NDA government, he has had a lot of discussion with leaders like LK Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Arun Jaitley.

Demanding that Sen be stripped of his Bharat Ratna, Mitra had said he was not even a voter in India and wondered whether a Bharat Ratna awardee should speak for or against any party or a leader.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari hit out at the BJP for its attack on Sen, who had raised the heckles of the saffron party saying he did not want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister since he did not have secular credentials. The prominent economist had also criticised Modi’s model of governance saying he did not approve of it.

Tewari said it was “regrettable” that the BJP resorted not only to the “ignominy” of asking Sen to return the Bharat Ratna, something that happened for the first time, but some of its spokespersons also sought return of his Nobel Prize. ”What kind of mentality is this. What is this if not fascism. This is a big blow to the right to express, write and speak,” Tewari said.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, “they should have not said like this”.

“Amartya Sen doesn’t want Modi as the PM, rates him below Nitish. For this sin, the BJP wants to strip his Bharat Ratna. Isn’t it height of intolerance?” Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said on twitter. — PTI

Amartya Sen says he doesn’t want Modi to be India’s PM: Is Sen even a voter in India? The next NDA government must strip him of the Bharat Ratna.


— Chandan Mitra

Chandan Mitra may not know that the Bharat Ratna was given to me by the BJP-led government and was handed to me by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If Vajpayee wants me to return it, I will certainly return it. 


— Amartya Sen