Praise pours in for Nobel laureate from across party lines
› Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences... He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.
NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister, in a tweet
NEW DELHI: Top political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, congratulated economist Abhijit Binayak Banerjee for winning the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize along with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their work in fighting global poverty.
“Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation,” Modi tweeted.
Sonia Gandhi lauded Banerjee for his work on poverty alleviation and added his win has delighted every Indian. “Apart from making the nation of his origin proud by this spectacular achievement, Prof Banerjee and his fellow recipients’ work in an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty has helped millions across the globe, including India, come out of poverty,” she saidin a statement.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, too, congratulated Banerjee on Twitter.
“Congratulations to #AbhijitBanerjee on winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. Abhijit helped conceptualise NYAY that had the power to destroy poverty and boost the Indian economy,” Gandhi tweeted
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that “as a student of economics”, he was particularly pleased that Banerjee was chosen for the honour for his “pioneering innovations in development economics” which is applicable in developing countries like India.
“Your scholarly work on poverty alleviation and development of new techniques such as Randomised Control Trials are truly path-breaking,” Singh said in a statement.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that another Bengali has done the nation proud by winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. “We are overjoyed,’’ she tweeted.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said it is a big day for every Indian and the Nobel is the “highest endorsement” of Banerjee’s work on poverty alleviation. In a tweet, Kejriwal said that Banerjee’s path-breaking work has also benefited lakhs of children studying in Delhi’s government schools. “One of Delhi govt’s most imp education reform ‘Chunauti’ has transformed govt school classroom teaching. It is based on the model developed by him,” tweeted Kejriwal.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that Banerjee’s win rebuffs the “calumny spread” about his alma mater, Kolkata’s Presidency College and Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. “You’ve done your alma mater proud, adding further distinction...” he tweeted.