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'I Am Appalled': Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen On JNU Attack

Sen, who has been a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government, said that he was appalled that the attack could go on for so long without being prevented by forces of law and order.
Economist Amartya Sen releases his book A Quantum Leap in the Wrong Direction at Alliance Francaise, Lodhi road on February 27, 2019 in New Delhi, India.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Economist Amartya Sen releases his book A Quantum Leap in the Wrong Direction at Alliance Francaise, Lodhi road on February 27, 2019 in New Delhi, India.

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said on Tuesday that he was appalled by the attack on the students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University by masked and armed goons that left many injured.

“I am appalled that communication between the administration and the police
would be so delayed that ill-treatment of students could go on for quite some time without being prevented by forces of law and order. That the establishment of the university cannot prevent outsiders from coming in and creating such bloody violence within the campus,” Sen was quoted by ANI as saying on the sidelines of an award show organised by Infosys in Bengaluru.

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Sen also said that the Supreme Court should overturn the Citizenship Amendment Act because a country could no have different fundamental rights for different groups of people and because it was unconstitutional.

The attack on JNU students has seen authors, writers and Bollywood celebrities unite in condemning violence. The Modi government has been criticised from all quarters including Opposition parties.

And even as the perpetrators of the violence — ABVP has accidentally admitted on national TV that they were involved — roam free, the Delhi police has registered an FIR against JNU student’s union president Aishe Ghosh. Ghosh was one among 19 people who were badly injured in the attack and received 19 stitches.

In October, Sen, who has been a vocal critic of Modi, had said in an interview with The New Yorker that one of Modi’s biggest successes was to “get the court” to acquit him in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. “One of his big successes has been to get the court to squash the case against him and the Home Minister, Amit Shah, in the Gujarat killings of 2002.”

Sen said because of this, not many Indians believe that Modi had a part to play in the riots.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.