Nobel laureate and eminent economist Amartya Sen said on Sunday that all the non-communal forces should come together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Sen was of the view that as ‘democracy is in danger’, Left front should not hesitate in joining the force against the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party.
Speaking at an event in Sisir Manch in Kolkata on Saturday, Sen said, as reported by the Indian Express, “We must express our opposition to autocracy, we must fight against their autocratic trends, we must criticise the issues where we need to oppose the non-communal right-wing forces, but we must not take back our hands when it comes to fighting communalism which is the biggest threat.”
The economist was of the opinion that BJP got ’31 per cent votes and ill motives in politics’ in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He said, “What happened in 2014 polls? A party having got 55 per cent seats but actually having secured 31 per cent of the total votes, came to power… A party with ill motives.”
Sen added that every political question should not be interpreted through leftist and rightist prisms. He said, “This is a strange logic. To stop autocracy, we will be sowing the seed of communalism. This seed can be weeded after a lot of time, effort and battle in future.”
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The Harvard University professor said that democracy was under threat in the country but it can only be rectified by the people. Sen said, “I think democracy is in danger but we can do rectification. If we say democracy is under threat, we can be beaten up by some people. But still we, the people, can do the rectification. It is not like a sinking boat which we all should abandon.”
Taking the example of Jawaharlal Nehru University of drawing a parallel with the situation in the country, Sen said, “Some students had been taken to custody in JNU on charge of sedition in the past, a charge which had not been proved in any case. They were beaten up in custody which was against any law. It is not fathomable how they were charged under sedition.” He further added, “We had all seen how an illegal act was committed and there was no fair justice. Till now, there was no proof of sedition charge. This time it was faced by students. but this can be faced by any citizen of this country.”
Sharing his opinion on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue, the eminent economist said, “The TMC went there to protest before the left. Such a thing won’t make the left proud. If you take pride for being Left make your voice heard on issues.”
Asked on the efficacy of multi-party system in the country, Sen said, “I found no example which said democracy won’t function without multi-party system. In one-party system we had seen example of autocratic rules over the years.”
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