'Worrying that scholars can be influenced by own dislikes’

It is “worrying” that scholars can be now influenced and become “imprisoned” by their own likes and dislikes rather than comment on the basis of facts, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, as she took a swipe at Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen for his views about the BJP government.

During a conversation organised by the Mossavar-rahmani Center for Business and Government on Tuesday, Sitharaman was asked by Harvard Professor Lawrence Summers that “number of people in our community”, notably economist Sen has expressed “rather strong reservations” about the BJP government. He said there’s a feeling that the legacy of tolerance “has been very much called into question” and that the attitude taken by “your government to the Muslim population is something that comes between the United States, given our values of universalism and inclusion, and India.” Sitharaman said that even the issue of violence in states not governed by the BJP “will be at the doorstep of the prime minister because that suits my narrative." Sitharaman said she respects “Dr Amartya Sen, who you mentioned,” and “I would think for every one of us”, “he goes to India, moves freely around and finds out what's happening. That itself would help us to know, particularly a scholar, who is talking based on facts.”