Amartya Sen is a respected economist who has never dissociated himself from his left wing policy leanings. But, in India these days, the Nobel laureate has taken on a political garb—a vocal proponent of anti-BJP political unification.
As far as Marxists and other leftists are concerned, it is only natural that such an intellect could never shake hands with backers of extreme right wing ideologies. True, he did accept India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, from a BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It came right after Sen won the Nobel Prize in economics. The RSS did not take it lightly. While they did not openly criticise Vajpayee's decision, the Sangh knew that, by according the Bharat Ratna to Sen, the government was not just recognising Sen's contribution to economics, but his "political beliefs" too. Vajpayee remained adamant and invited Sen and his wife Emma Rothschild to 7 Race Course Road. Vajpayee learned the various aspects of the work Sen had done.
Taken broadly, Sen's economics is aligned with what some of the RSS believe. More state control on healthcare, heavy spending on primary and universal education, are some policies which find resonance within the Sangh. But, Sen's identity is not confined to his economics and his left wing beliefs. He was a philosopher economist, in the truest sense of the term.
Apart from his social choice theory, his relentless work on famine and social justice took Sen closer to the masses, though not in the political sense of the term. He could bring out statistics from countries in Europe, and could match that with any country in Africa, south Asia or the middle east.
More interesting is his comparison between Bengal and Kerala models of development; Bengal, as Kerala still is, was a stronghold of the communist party.
Sen's praise for Kerala's heavy public expenditure on healthcare—albeit thanks to foreign remittance—often turned into criticism of the Bengal left front. Definitely, he was all praise for Bengal's tremendous contribution to farm growth in India, despite the state suffering devastating famines in the 40s. He lauded the high public expenditure on primary education during the left front regime, but wanted more from the government. He has been advocating for Bengal since his student days in Presidency College, Kolkata, and then as a teacher at Jadavpur University.
He shed no tears after the fall of the left front government in Bengal; he always felt there was much for the communist government to achieve. He did not belittle its contribution, but outlined how West Bengal, even under Marxist rule, could not achieve what both left and Congress could in Kerala, following almost the same policy.
Sen has expressed his worry about the growth of right wing outfits in Bengal. The economist, who was more a prophet of social changes, warned people about the "ill-impact" that right wing policies could bring to Bengal or other states. Unfortunately, by doing that, he was branded as an anti-Modi; time and again, he tried hard to explain that he had no "personal animosity" towards India's prime minister.
A proponent of inclusive growth, Sen feared Modi's track record would never make him acceptable to religious minorities in India, and that one could not uplift large section of poverty-stricken masses unless the country remained united. But, Modi's politics would not enable him to do that. Simply put, a man who was a beneficiary of majoritarianism would be unable to serve the interests of all sections of the society.
Today his social choice theory has him calling for a grand alliance in 2019. Sen knows that by opposing Modi's candidature he has earned the wrath of many. He is not bothered about the sudden controversy by asking for a grand alliance in 2019.
BJP thinks he works under the influence of a political ideology. In 2013, when he opposed Modi's candidature as prime minister, Chandan Mitra, who was then with the BJP, asked him to return his Bharat Ratna award.
Sen, who never praised Vajpayee publicly in his life, said then, "If Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked me, I will do so." By saying that, he made a clear distinction between BJP and Vajpayee. Dilip Ghosh, BJP's Bengal president, criticised Sen for his one-sided political statement. He said, "He should remember that he is the recipient of a Bharat Ratna. And a Bharat Ratna does not take political side." But what Ghosh could not understand was that this was a man whose is easy to pigeonhole.