Amartya Sen says non-communal, non-BJP parties should merge for 2019 polls

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen today said all non-communal, non-BJP forces should join hands in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as "democracy is in danger".

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen today said all non-communal, non-BJP forces should join hands in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as "democracy is in danger".

"We must express our opposition to autocracy, we must fight against their autocratic trends, we must criticise the issues where we need to oppose the non-communal right-wing forces, but we must not take back our hands when it comes to fighting communalism which is the biggest threat," he said.

Sharply criticizing the BJP government at the Centre, Sen said a party having got "31 percent votes and ill motives in politics" came to power in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

"What happened in 2014 polls? A party having got 55 percent seats but actually having secured 31 percent of the total votes, came to power... A party with ill motives," Sen said during a question-answer session 'Bharat Kon Pathe' (Which way is India heading?) at Sisir Manch auditorium here.

Sen said during his visit to Kolkata this time, he has heard whispers in certain quarters that to stop the autocratic trends in the state, BJP can be the viable medium and not the weak CPIM.

"This is a strange logic. To stop autocracy, we will be showing the seed of communalism. This seed can be weeded after a lot of time, effort and battle in future," he said.

He said every political question should not be interpreted through leftist and rightist prisms.

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