When Amartya Sen Criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh In His Presence
On August 3, 2010, while giving a lecture on ‘Centrality and Literacy’ in Delhi, Nobel laureate professor Amartya Sen took to the stage and expressed his disapproval of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his policy on Myanmar.
“I do not agree with your policy on Burma. In a democratic country like India, I can say this to the Prime Minister,” said Sen while the former PM sat among the audience and smiled at him.
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At the time, India, under the leadership of Singh, maintained good relations with Myanmar military ruler General Than Shwe, who was criticised globally for barring pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting elections in 2010.
Recalling the incident, Indian economist Kaushik Basu took to X and wrote, “3 Aug 2010. Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi. Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh on stage. Sen criticizes MMS’s foreign policy. Bureaucrat next to me shocked that PM is criticized publicly. In closing remarks MMS defends his policy & they walk out, shaking hands & chatting. India’s democracy, once.”
3 Aug 2010. Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi. Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh on stage. Sen criticizes MMS’s foreign policy. Bureaucrat next to me shocked that PM is criticized publicly. In closing remarks MMS defends his policy & they walk out, shaking hands & chatting. India’s democracy, once.
— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) August 30, 2024
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Years later, the professor acknowledged that among his students, Manmohan Singh, whom he once believed to be the “least likely” to become the prime minister of the country, ended up becoming “an excellent one.”
Sen has been critical of the Prime Minister Modi-led government. “I do think the (Narendra) Modi government is one of the most appalling, which treats its own people in such a nasty way, which neglects the justice and fairness that should come to people of different ancestry,” he observed in a 2023 interview with Karan Thapar during an interview for The Wire.
