Efforts Made To Divide Indians, Create Rift In Co-Existence, Says Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen said, in 1922, "several people in the country were jailed for political reasons", but after Independence, "this exercise is still very much in practice."

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday said people of the country were being divided for "political opportunism".

Mr Sen also said that the colonial practice of imprisoning people due to political reasons is still being continued, decades after India gained independence.

"There is an effort to divide Indians...create a rift in the co-existence of Hindus and Muslims on account of political opportunism," he said during a virtual address at the centenary celebration of 'Anandabazar Patrika'.

The first edition of the vernacular daily was published on March 13, 1922. Prafullakumar Sarkar was its founding-editor.