Little more than a week after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics with two others, Abhijit Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. India is proud of his accomplishments. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours. pic.twitter.com/SQFTYgXyBX
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 22, 2019
Modi tweeted an image of him with Banerjee. Modi wrote, “Excellent meeting with Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. India is proud of his accomplishments...”
The meeting between Modi and Banerjee comes days after some leaders of the BJP had criticised the economist, particularly for his association with the Congress party's NYAY universal basic income scheme, which it had proposed before the recent Lok Sabha polls.
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Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had referred to Banerjee as being “left leaning”, provoking an uproar. Interestingly, Dilip Ghosh, chief of the West Bengal BJP unit, had declared Banerjee was “our pride” and declared he would take the economist's assistance.
Banerjee is expected to travel to Kolkata during his India trip.
