Abhijit Banerjee at Express Adda: Recourse to violence in JNU frightening

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Echoing Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s remarks on the violence, Banerjee said that “what was remarkable about JNU was that it was a safe space for dissent”.

“It is important for all of us to lay claim to that safe space. To say that it is important for our nation’s future that we have a culture where we can talk to each other without resorting to violence, where we disagree severely and nevertheless stay within the boundaries of conversation. I feel the issue is much deeper than who is to blame (for the violence),” he said.

Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo at the Express Adda in Mumbai. (Express photo: Prashant Nadkar)

“It is important to have a space where we can both disagree but still communicate. It is important for us to have that space to dissent. For an institution like the JNU, what is valuable is the sense that you can be both, somebody who has strong views and somebody who can deal with it intellectually without becoming violent,” Banerjee said.

Looking back on his days at JNU, he said that he was sent to Tihar jail in 1983 “because JNU was seen as being too uppity by Mrs Gandhi…so there is a long tradition of JNU being the arch-enemy”.

Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Editor Indian Express and Seema Chishti, Deputy Editor Indian Express during Express Adda at Tote on the Turf, Mahalaxmi racecourse on Monday. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)

“Having said that, actually Nirmala Sitharaman said that yesterday, what was remarkable about JNU was that it was a safe space for dissent. It was extremely vibrant but with a lot of diversity,” he said.

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“JNU is always characterised as being a sort of Leftist hangout, but there was Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat, and Yogendra Yadav. Coming from middle-class Bengal, I didn’t really know the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in any form, and then we met them (at the JNU campus). They were engaged in conversation, almost formally polite. It was the first time I’d encountered an enormous range of views. But I think we got along,” he said.