Union minister Giriraj Singh apologises in Lok Sabha for racist comments on Sonia Gandhi. (File photo)
Union Minister Giriraj Singh took a dig today at Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, saying Bihar was a "victim" of his intellect, days after the economist's stinging criticism of the BJP-led Central government over its what he called its "interference" in academia.
As a response to a conversation in the social media site, the minister tweeted:
His remarks were seen as a reference to Dr Sen's recent comments about what he called his "ouster" from the Chancellorship of Nalanda University. On that occasion, he had also expressed scepticism about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of secularism.
In a five-page letter to the university's governing board, Dr Sen had said the Board (of Nalanda University) "unanimously" wanted him to continue as Chancellor of Nalanda but "the government did not".
He also said it had become "clear to me that if I had succeeded in staying on, which many of the board members wanted me to... I'll be making a mistake because the important cause is Nalanda University and I could not be an effective leader of Nalanda with government hostility."
Dr Sen is slated to step down as Chancellor on July 17, when he will be replaced by George Yeo, the former foreign minister of Singapore.
Mr Singh, a lawmaker from Bihar's Nawada, had made several controversial comments in the past, including one against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, for which he had to apologise in Parliament.