Meghalaya Guv Hits Back at Amartya Sen For ‘Jai Shri Ram’ Remark

The nobel laureate had said that “Jai Shri Ram” slogan was being used as “a pretext to beat up people”.

Amartya Sen. (Photo: Reuters)

After Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen said that unlike 'Maa Durga', the 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan is not associated with Bengali culture and it is used as "a pretext to beat up people", Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy hit back on Sunday, 7 July, saying Sen should “stick to his subject.”

Speaking in Kolkata, Roy said, "Are Ramrajatala and Serampore in West Bengal or somewhere else? Don't we say Ram-Ram when we are scared of ghosts? He won a Nobel Prize in economics, he should stick to his subject,"

Sen, on 5 July, had said, “It is 'Maa Durga' who is omnipresent in the lives of Bengalis.”

“Jai Sri Ram slogan is not associated with the Bengali culture,” he said, adding that even Ram Navami is “gaining popularity” nowadays and he had “never heard of it before”.

"I asked my four-year-old grandchild ‘who is your favourite deity?’ She replied that it is Maa Durga. Maa Durga is so much more omnipresent in our lives," he said.

“What I feel is slogans like Jai Sri Ram are used as pretexts to beat up people,” the economist said.

Incidents Politically Motivated

Expressing concern over religious discrimination, Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen on Friday said one cannot negate the political link behind it, according to IANS.

"As per the position of the people of various religions in the Indian Constitution, there should not be any discrimination," Sen said during an educational event at Jadavpur University.

The octogenarian felt that the current perception is highly driven by caste discrimination and differentiation on religious grounds.

According to him, if the society reaches a position where a person is being forced to utter something and being beaten up for not abiding, everyone needs to think over the urgent needs of the hour and change the perceptions accordingly.

"We cannot say that these incidents are not politically motivated," Sen said.

Ruckus in West Bengal Over ‘Jai Shri Ram’

Last month, a man in West Bengal's Coochbehar district was beaten up for not uttering 'Jai Shri Ram'. The incident of Tufanganj surfaced after a video clip was circulated on social media.

In the video, a man was being made to do sit-ups holding his ears and forced to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The man followed helplessly.

Several cases of scuffle between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party workers over chanting of 'Jai Shri Ram' have also been reported in the state.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI.)