NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Tuesday that among his students, Manmohan Singh was “least likely” to become the prime minister of India since former felt that the latter “did not seem to take any interest in politics.” He further said that Singh went on “excellent” PM.
“If somebody asked me when I was a student in Delhi, who among my fellow students was least likely to become a prime minister, I would have named Manmohan Singh since he did not seem to take any interest in politics,” he said that in an interview to PTI.
“But then he went on to become a prime minister and, I think, an excellent one at that. So, it’s difficult to predict these things,” he added.
The comments came in reaction to Sen being asked if he sees Rahul Gandhi as the next PM.
“I am not going to answer this thing. How people become prime ministers is very difficult to catch”, he said.
‘Rahul is much more mature person now’
The economist recollected how Rahul Gandhi has evolved as a politician since his college days.
“I think he (Rahul) is a much more mature person (now). I knew him as a young man during his days at Trinity College… the college where I studied and later became its Master. He (Rahul) visited me at that time and he came across as someone who was unclear about what he wanted to do. Politics didn’t seem to appeal to him then,” he said.
He also said that Bharat Jodo Yatra had done well for the country and Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul has done a good job. I think the yatra was good both for India and for him. And I think he has shown remarkable improvement in this ability to articulate, especially his thoughts on politics, much more clearly than he could in the past”, he said.
This comes days after Sen said that Lok Sabha results reflected that Hindutva politics had been rejected by the people.
“The election results reflect that such (Hindutva) brand of politics has been thwarted to some extent,” he said.
“If somebody asked me when I was a student in Delhi, who among my fellow students was least likely to become a prime minister, I would have named Manmohan Singh since he did not seem to take any interest in politics,” he said that in an interview to PTI.
“But then he went on to become a prime minister and, I think, an excellent one at that. So, it’s difficult to predict these things,” he added.
The comments came in reaction to Sen being asked if he sees Rahul Gandhi as the next PM.
“I am not going to answer this thing. How people become prime ministers is very difficult to catch”, he said.
‘Rahul is much more mature person now’
The economist recollected how Rahul Gandhi has evolved as a politician since his college days.
“I think he (Rahul) is a much more mature person (now). I knew him as a young man during his days at Trinity College… the college where I studied and later became its Master. He (Rahul) visited me at that time and he came across as someone who was unclear about what he wanted to do. Politics didn’t seem to appeal to him then,” he said.
He also said that Bharat Jodo Yatra had done well for the country and Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul has done a good job. I think the yatra was good both for India and for him. And I think he has shown remarkable improvement in this ability to articulate, especially his thoughts on politics, much more clearly than he could in the past”, he said.
This comes days after Sen said that Lok Sabha results reflected that Hindutva politics had been rejected by the people.
“The election results reflect that such (Hindutva) brand of politics has been thwarted to some extent,” he said.