Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee meets PM Modi

Calling the meeting with Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee “excellent”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said they had a “healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects”.

Abhijit Banerjee, winner of the 2019 Economics Nobel, today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted a photo of the meeting and said “India is proud of his accomplishments”. The meeting took place in the backdrop of a huge debate spurred by the renowned economist’s critique of the government’s economic policies and sharp rejoinders from BJP leaders like Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

“Excellent meeting with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. His passion towards human empowerment is clearly visible. We had a healthy and extensive interaction on various subjects. India is proud of his accomplishments. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours,” PM Modi tweeted after the meeting.

In an interview on Saturday, Dr Banerjee had 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, said.

The Nobel laureate was responding to Union Minister Piyush Goyal calling him 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 had remarked when asked about Dr Banerjee’s assessment that the economy was in a crisis.

Dr Banerjee had assisted the Congress in formulating the NYAY or minimum income guarantee scheme ahead of the national election earlier this year, but the party was routed.