Sen’s remark on Mamata stings BJP, Cong & CPI(M)

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. File pic/PTI

Economist Amartya Sen's recent comment that Mamata Banerjee's qualities to achieve the chair of the prime minister are unquestionable has irked the state leaderships of all the opposition parties. Besides the BJP and Congress, even the CPI(M) leadership, who feel mentally aligned with Sen's social economics theories, has objected to the Nobel laureate's observations about the West Bengal chief minister.

Reminding that Sen has also expressed doubts on how far Banerjee will be able to unite the opposition against the BJP, CPI(M)'s central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that it seems that Sen made this comment based on some superficial observation. "It is true that the opposition parties in the country will have to be united against the BJP. But it seems that what probably escaped Sen's observations is that Mamata Banerjee is being used as a tool by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to crack the Opposition unity," he said.

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According to Congress's Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya, a united Opposition to the BJP will never be possible without the Congress. "Mamata Banerjee dreams of becoming the prime minister of India. But she is trying to do that without the Congress. But that will never be possible," he added. While the tones of CPI(M) and Congress leaders were quite clement on this count, the pitch of BJP's national vice-president and party Lok Sabha member, Dilip Ghosh was scathing.

The TMC leadership does not want to give any importance to the observations of the opposition parties on this count. Party's Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, "A number of times Mamata Banerjee has proved her quality to become the PM of the country and that quality has been appreciated and affirmed by Amartya Sen."

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