Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Wednesday took a dig at the BJP government and said the results of the recent Lok Sabha elections showed that India is not a ‘Hindi Rashtra’. According to him, India should be “politically open minded”, especially if it is a secular country with a secular constitution.
Sen said in a media interview “The idea of calling India ‘Hindi Rashtra’ is inappropriate… India’s ‘Hindi Rashtra’ is only reflected in the election results”.
In the concluded general elections, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 240 seats. However, it fell short of the simple majority mark of 272 in the 543-member National Assembly. This made the Budget dependent on its allies – TDP N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to form the government. Congress won 99 seats, while the opposition INDIA Bloc won 234 seats.
The 90-year-old economist expressed displeasure at the fact that some leaders were being held behind bars without trial.
We always hope to see changes after every election… Some things that happened in the past (during the BJP led central government) like arresting people without trial and widening the gap between the rich and the poor continued. This has to stop,” he said.
When you were a child he remembered that when India was under British rule, people were imprisoned without trial.
“When I was young, many of my aunts and uncles were imprisoned without trial. We hope India will be free from these things. Congress is also to blame for not stopping it. “They did not change it… But more so in the current government,” he said.
According to you, the new cabinet is a “copy” of the previous one.
He also said “… The ministers continue to hold the same package. “Although things have changed a bit, the politically powerful remain powerful”.
The Nobel laureate said he lost the Ayodhya seat in Faizabad despite building a Ram temple to symbolize the country’s identity.
“It is a lot of money to build a Ram Temple… To portray India as ‘Rashtra India’ which should not be in countries like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. This shows an attempt to ignore India’s original identity and that which needs to change,” he said.
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