Cong-AAP should have fought Delhi polls together: Amartya Sen

Santiniketan: Advocating a “strong need” for unity between the Congress and the Aam Admi Party (AAP), Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen said that the two parties should have fought the Delhi elections together with mutually agreed commitments.

Sen also said that if secularism in India were to survive, there would not only have to be unity but also agreement on things that had made India an excellent example of pluralism. “I don’t think the result of the Delhi elections should be exaggerated, but it certainly has its significance. And if the AAP had won there, that victory would have carried its own weight,” Sen told PTI.

Delving deeper into the reasons behind AAP’s setback, the eminent economist said that one factor is the “lack of unity among those who did not want a Hindutva-oriented government in Delhi”. “If you look at the numbers in many seats, the margin of BJP’s advantage over the AAP was less, sometimes far less, than the votes that the Congress received,” he said.

According to him, another important question is clarity with respect to policy. “What were the AAP’s commitments? I don’t think the AAP succeeded in making clear that it was firmly secular and for all Indians. There was too much catering to Hindutva. So it’s not even clear how committed it was against religious communalism. The AAP didn’t take clear sides on that,” the Nobel laureate claimed.