Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee had told NDTV, “I am not partisan in my economic thinking. We work with any number of state governments, many of which are BJP governments”
Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today
PM Modi had congratulated Dr Banerjee after the Nobel announcement praising his work in poverty alleviation.
Narendra Modi✔@narendramodiCongratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.
In an interview to NDTV, Dr Banerjee said he had worked in Gujarat when PM Modi was Chief Minister and had an “excellent experience”.
“I am not partisan in my economic thinking. We work with any number of state governments, many of which are BJP governments. We worked with the Gujarat Pollution (Control) Board when Gujarat was under (Narendra) Modi, and we actually had an excellent experience. I would say that they were willing to engage with the evidence and they implemented policies that followed with that experience,” Dr Banerjee, 58, told NDTV.
His comments were in response to Union Minister Piyush Goyal calling the Nobel laureate a “Left-leaning” person. “Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel prize, I congratulate him. But you all know what his understanding is. His thinking is totally Left-leaning. He had praised the NYAY scheme effusively, but the people of India totally rejected his thinking,” Mr Goyal said.
Dr Banerjee had assisted the Congress in formulating the NYAY scheme, ahead of the national election this year. The scheme promised to give Rs. 72,000 a year to each of the 20 per cent families in the poorest of the poor category.
Dr Banerjee shares the Nobel with Esther Duflo – they are married – and Michael Kremer.
Prasanta Patnaik