BJP Bengal chief flayed after attack on Amartya Sen

Kolkata: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Saturday drew all-round flak for making a vitriolic personal attack on Nobel laureate and Bharat Ratna awardee Amartya Sen and casting aspersions on his achievements, contribution and character.
Speaking at a function here, Ghosh – known for repeatedly putting his foot in the mouth – lashed out against Sen, saying the economist himself did not understand what he has achieved.
“We have a Nobel prize winner. He is a Bengali, he is alive. We are very proud of that. What has he achieved? Nobody in Bengal understands this. No one in the world understands it. I have doubts whether he himself understands it,” said the BJP leader.
Questioning Sen’s contribution to the country, he said: “What has he given the country? Because he has got the Nobel, we are dancing in joy. He is very much pained for having being removed as Nalanda Vice Chancellor (actually Sen was Nalanda University Chancellor). What has he done?”
Ghosh said such people who lacked “backbone and character” were now Bengal’s pride.
Continuing in the same vein, Ghosh attacked Bengal’s present intellectuals, saying they could be “bought, sold and threatened”.”Earlier, Bengal’s intellectuals were revered for their ideas , thoughts and dignity, farsightedness and couldn’t care less attitude.
“But unfortunately, things have become diametrically opposite now. These people can be bought, sold, threatened. They fall at others’ feet.”
Soon after Ghosh’s comments were aired by a television channel, civil society unequivocally condemned him.
“To raise questions about Amartya Babu’s scholarship and personality and sense of freedom is ridiculous. The entire world knows this, and Bengal is justly proud of that. But at the same time it is also true that these comments don’t dilute his (Sen’s) scholarship. We are proud of Amartya Sen,” said Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das.
Educationist Sukanta Chowdhury said the comments were “highly insulting”. “To even respond to such remarks would be tantamount to insulting Aamartya Sen. I will only say such distasteful and loose comments only end up vitiating the social environs.”
“What can I say, if somebody says even Amartya Sen does now know what he has achieved? I will only say such person’s ignorance has no end. Those who make such comments only flaunt their ignorance,” said thespian Soumitra Chatterjee. (IANS)