West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday hit out at the BJP for “insulting Bengal’s pride Amartya Sen”.
He said, “The one who gave Bengal an international recognition by winning so many global awards is being called a land thief by his own people. When will Bengalis have sense?”
Chowdhury’s remark has come when Professor Sen has been engaged in a tussle with Visva-Bharati University over land holding. At the same time, the BJP has also aimed its weapons at him and questioned his morality.
“Those who are insulting Bengal’s pride will turn Bengal golden? Not just condemning BJP’s attitude but I’m protesting against it,” Chowdhury, the Berhampore MP, said.
Dilip Ghosh, BJP state president in West Bengal, on Tuesday launched a scathing attack against Nobel laureate Amartya Sen amid the recent Visva-Bharati University land row.
Hitting professor Sen below the belt, Ghosh said that the former didn’t have any moral right to speak anything about West Bengal because he married thrice.
“I don’t want to attack personally to a person who has married three women of three different faiths. He has no moral right to say anything,” Ghosh was seen saying on Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.
“He has fled the country. He is never seen with the people of this country. He was nowhere to be found during a crisis like Amphan or pandemic. We are not here to take moral lesson from such a person,” the Medinipur MP added.
A debate has been stirred in West Bengal after Visva-Bharati University VC alleged that Professor Sen – an allumni of the institution – had identified himself as “Nobel laureate Amartya Sen”. A claim refuted by the Bharat Ratna.
The situation escalated further when VBU authorities wrote to the West Bengal government on Thursday, claiming that the internationally-famed economist had illegally registered a part of the university’s land under his own name.
Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister, took the matter on her own hands and penned down a letter to Professor Sen. She said that the accusations had been levelled against him because he “isn’t inclined towards BJP’s ideology”.
Reacting to her letter, the 87-year-old wrote back to Banerjee and thanked her for standing beside him.