Even as the BJP distanced itself from the controversial remark made by its MP Chandan Mitra that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be stripped off Bharat Ratna for speaking against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress termed the demand as “intolerance”.
Sen also responded to Mitra’s demand saying he was ready to give up the Bharat Ratna if former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who conferred the award on him, asks its return.
Sen added that such a demand (of returning Bharat Ratna) was “unproductive and unfortunate”, adding that during the BJP-led NDA Government, he had a lot of discussions with leaders like L K Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Arun Jaitley. Sen had raised the heckles of the saffron party by saying he did not want to see Modi as the Prime Minister as minorities did not feel safe under his rule. He went on to say that infrastructure may be good, but Gujarat had failed to deliver on social indicators.
Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari challenged Modi for a public debate on his governance model at a place and format of the Gujarat CM’s choice.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that Mitra’s remark was his personal opinion. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said: “Bharat Ratna debate is unfortunate. The BJP is not a part of it. Views expressed by members can only be construed as their personal opinion.”
Bhagwati steps in the long-standing academic rivalry between economists Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati over divergent models of economic growth too is threatening to turn into a street fight with both the BJP and the Congress taking sides. Bhagwati, a vocal votary of Modi’s pro-industry governance model, said in a news channel debate: “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. I want all of the progressive people, no matter which party they belong to, to look at the ideas we are proposing and show where they stand and what they are going to do with these ideas.”
“I don’t know what his (Modi) model is. What has happened in Gujarat is relatively rapid growth. He has actually been very good about getting licence cleared very fast, he has added to electricity supply which is a big problem. All of which is exactly the way development takes place and then I also find that social progress has taken place,” he said.
The rivalry between the economists is also pitted as a fight between the Modi model and UPA’s governance model.