“Dear Mamata…” Amartya Sen’s letter the Bengal CM: her “strong voice” a “source of tremendous strength” for him

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has written to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee thanking her for her supportive letter to him, and for her reassurances. Sen wrote that “your strong voice, along with your full understanding of what is going on, is, for me, a source of tremendous strength”.

Earlier this week, Banerjee had appealed to intellectuals to build up a protest for the Vishwa Bharati’s attack on Sen. The Viswa Bharati authorities had written to the West Bengal government alleging that several plots have been wrongly recorded in the names of private individuals, and the list of “unauthorised occupants” as prepared by the university includes Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Following this, Banerjee had that the Vishwa Bharati authorities must seek forgiveness for this.

According to a report of The Times of India, in Prof Sen’s case the university has stated that there is unauthorised occupation of 13 decimals of land and 125 decimals legally leased to his late father by the Vishwa Bharati authorities. Sen, in his response to TOI has said that “The Visva-Bharati land on which our house is situated is on a long-term lease, which is nowhere near its expiry, but the vice-chancellor can always dream about evicting anyone he wants.”

Following Mamata Banerjee’s call, on Sunday, some intellectuals had come out in support of Sen, holding a protest rally in Kolkata. Here is the full letter that Sen wrote to the Bengal CM:

Dear Mamata (if I may call you that),

I am very happy indeed to get your wonderfully supportive letter. I am not only most touched, but also very reassured that despite the busy life that you have to lead, you can find time for reassuring people under attack. Your strong voice, along with your full understanding of what is going on, is, for me, a source of tremendous strength.

May I send you my deep appreciation of the warmth of your extremely kind letter. I also take the liberty of conveying to you my thanks as well as my personal affection and admiration.

Yours ever,

Amartya