In a caustic remark, former Tripura Governor and BJP leader Tathagata Roy asked Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to ‘stick to his own job’instead of speaking on everything in the society. Roy was responding to Sen’s comment that Narendra Modi government’s ‘schizophrenia’led to Covid surge in the country. In a tweet, Roy writes: “Amartya Sen, after winning the Nobel in Economics, has been poking his nose into every subject except his own. The latest is psychiatry – he has detected schizophrenia in Modi ji!”.
“Dr Sen, recall the Banquet speech of your peer Friedrich von Hayek: ‘There is no reason why a man who has made a distinctive contribution to economic science should be omnicompetent on all problems of society — as the press tends to treat him till in the end he may himself be persuaded to believe’. Take Dr. Hayek’s advice. Stick to Economics.”
Addressing a programme on Saturday Sen had said that confused Modi government was focused on taking credit for its actions, rather than working to restrict the spread of Covid-19, resulting in schizophrenia that led to massive troubles. “India could not play on its strengths because of a poor response to the crisis due to confusion in the government. The government seemed much keener on ensuring credit for what it was doing rather than ensuring that pandemics do not spread in India. The result was a certain amount of schizophrenia.”
Other BJP leaders also attacked Sen for his uncalled for comments. State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “I’m not that arrogant to state that Sen has grown old and requires counselling. But we must not forget his comments before Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. Whatever he has spoken against the PM and the Central government is purely political.”
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