Asked why he used a sweeping adjective like “despotic” to describe an economic policy which is drawing both positive and negative reviews, Dr Sen explained “Despotic in the sense that it breaks down trust in the currency.” Making the argument that the rupee is a promissory note, the noted economist said that for the any government to not honour it is to renege on a basic promise. “If suddenly a government says we won’t pay you, that is despotic. I am not a fan of capitalism but…trust is key to capitalism; this goes against trust altogether. There is a potential danger of undermining the economy and the very basis of capitalism. Tomorrow the government could do the same with bank accounts and not allow anything above a certain amount unless people prove they are not racketeers.”
Dr Sen who has been a trenchant critic of Narendra Modi (his most recent run-in with the government has been over its removal of board members like him from the prestigious Nalanda University in Bihar), rubbished the suggestion that his ideological disagreements with the Prime Minister are guiding his criticism of demonetisation. “I would never criticise Modi for wanting to get rid of black money. If he did it successfully, I would be full of admiration and applause. My worry is that with this move, the lives of law-abiding citizens and white money-holding people will be that much harder. My differences with Modi are over our view of India… and I would like to say the BJP does not have license based on 31 percent of the vote to declare some people anti national just because they happen to disagree with the government.”
Dr Sen was honoured with the Bharat Ratna during the NDA tenure of Atal Bihari Vajapyee.
(Sourced from agencies, feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
