Regional parties will play key role in LS poll: Amartya Sen

Kolkata January 14

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has asserted that it “would be a mistake” to think that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections would be a one-horse race in favour of the BJP, and felt that the role of a number of regional parties would be “clearly important” for the upcoming General Election.

The 90-year-old economist also said that though Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had the ability to be India’s next Prime Minister, it was yet to be established whether the West Bengal Chief Minister could be able to pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP.

“I think a number of regional parties are clearly important. I think the DMK is an important party, the TMC is certainly important and the Samajwadi Party has some standing but whether that could be extended I do not know.

CAA to hit minorities

One of BJP’s purposes (by implementing the CAA) is to reduce the role of minorities and make them less important and, in a direct and indirect way, increase the role of the Hindu majoritarian forces. — Amartya Sen, economist

“I think it would be a mistake to take the dismissive view that there is no other party that can take the place of the BJP since it has established itself as a party with a vision that is inclined in the direction of Hindus over the rest of the country,” he said in an interview.

Leaders of several parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Janata Dal (United), have called for a new alliance, including the Congress, for the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. They have emphasised that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP’s defeat. Sen expressed doubts about the Congress’ ability to win the 2024 elections, which he believes has “weakened”. He, however, said that it is the only party to provide an all-India vision. — PTI

Tharoor: BJP to lose majority in ’24

New Delhi: It will be ‘impossible’ for the BJP to replicate its 2019 electoral triumph in 2024, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor claimed, and added it was ‘conceivable’ that the ruling party could lose ‘50 seats’ in the Lok Sabha. “…the BJP dropping below the majority in 2024 is entirely possible,” he said.