Is Amartya Sen trying to please Bengal CM, asks BJP's Suvendu on economist's SIR comment

Kolkata: A day after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen raised concerns over electoral roll revision and alleged linguistic intolerance in the country, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday wondered whether the economist was trying to please West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Asked to comment on Sen's views on special intensive revision of electoral rolls and alleged attack on Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly said he did not wish to respond to the remarks by the "highly educated person".

"He is a highly educated person known internationally. He is also an aged person, and I should not make any adverse comment. But you think about why he is saying such things. What makes him utter such words? "Is he trying to placate someone. Is he trying to please someone like Mamata Banerjee with such utterances? It is a tragedy," the Nandigram MLA said.

Renowned economist Amartya Sen had on Friday expressed concerns over the rising linguistic intolerance in the country, especially against Bengali-speaking people in various states.

Referring to media reports that Bengali-speaking persons from West Bengal were being pushed to Bangladesh on suspicion that they hail from that country, the economist jokingly said there is a possibility that he might be sent back to Dhaka, where his family has roots.

Sen also expressed concerns over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, warning that the exercise, if not handled sensitively, could end up "disenfranchising" a large number of poor and marginalised people.

Claiming that no Muslim had protested against SIR in Bihar, Adhikari accused Banerjee, the TMC supremo, of misleading minority people in West Bengal over the electoral roll revision.

"No one from the Muslim community was driven out in any enumeration exercise. Since 2019, she had been flagging the NRC issue to consolidate minority votes. She will not be able to raise the same issue of NRC in the 2026 assembly polls," the BJP leader said.

Adhikari also alleged that the TMC supremo was misleading Muslims in Bengal about SIR.

"The SIR will only delete the bogus voters from Bangladesh and the Rohingya communities. The TMC had been using these vote banks. During multi-phase polls in the past, every such elector used to cast a vote for TMC with the support of a section of police and district officials. Not any more," he alleged..

A total of 30,000-40,000 people have appealed for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in the country, as none has been misled by the "propaganda of the TMC supremo" the BJP leader claimed.

"No bona fide Indian citizens - Hindus or minorities - should be afraid. They will be safe and secure when the BJP comes to power in West Bengal," he added.