BJP MP wants Amartya Sen stripped of Bharat Ratna

Noted economist Amartya Sen on Thursday chided senior journalist and BJP MP Chandan Mitra for tweeting that the next NDA government must “strip” the Nobel laureate of his Bharat Ratna for comm­enting against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Mitra may not know, said Sen on Thursday, that it was the NDA government which bestowed upon him the honour. Sen, however, said he would return the Bharat Ratna if asked by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mitra, a Rajya Sabha MP, found himself cornered as the BJP refused to side with him. “It is Mitra’s personal opinion,” senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi said at a briefing.
The renowned economist was caught in the web of surcharged politicking ahead of the Assembly and general elections after he disapproved of Modi’s prime ministerial candidature.

This prompted Mitra to tweet: “Please Dr Sen, don’t peddle your unsolicited comment on India. We now know you as a has-been economist who sells Congress line for a living.”

“Those who are upset with my suggestions about Sen and Bharat Ratna can you show me examples of others who do party politics after getting BR (Bharat Ratna),” Mitra posted on the social networking site.

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

“There are things to learn from Narendra Modi but I don’t think he’ll be a good prime minister. I don’t regret what I have said. My remark was concerned only with Narendra Modi, not the Bharatiya Janata Party”.

The Congress, however, called “fascist” the demand by a section of the BJP to strip Sen of the Bharat Ratna.

“What kind of a mentality is this? Either you are with us or against us. If you are against us, you are not entitled to Bharat Ratna,” Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said. “What is it that Amartya Sen has done? In this country, aren’t the people entitled to their views? If this is not pure fascism, then what else is it?”

Another noted economist, Jagdish Bhagwati, had favoured the Modi model of development. “I am not going to vote for Modi. I have no particular affection for him. But I have no particular affection for Rahul Gandhi also,” he pointed out.