As the controversy surrounding Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra's demand for stripping Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of the 'Bharat Ratna' award escalated, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said it is reflective of the saffron outfit's dictatorial mentality.
"The Constitution has given the right to everyone to express their opinions freely. But threatening Prof. Amartya Sen by taking away his 'Bharat Ratna' for expressing his opinion shows the dictatorial mentality of the BJP. It is against the Constitution and we highly condemn it," he told the media here.
Kumar further asserted that the Janata Dal (United) took the right decision to split its 17-year old alliance with the BJP, and said that the latter's ideologies are detrimental to the progress of the nation.
"The decision that we took to split from the BJP is absolutely correct, looking at the thought process of the BJP. They claim that they will take the nation forward, but such an ideology will only take the nation backward. And the people of this country have always criticized such a mentality," he added.
Chandan Mitra had earlier in a television interview suggested that Amartya Sen be stripped off the Bharat Ratna.
"Amartya Sen says he doesn't want Modi to be India's PM. Is Sen even a voter in India? Next NDA government must strip him of Bharat Ratna," he said during an interview to CNN-IBN.
Amartya Sen had earlier this week told a television channel during an interview that Narendra Modi could have done more for Gujarat's education, health and for secularism, instead of focusing solely on physical infrastructure development in that state.
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Sen, referring to Modi who has been appointed as the BJP's campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, said that he would like a more secular person to be the country's Prime Minister.
"I would not like a Prime Minister who generates concern and fear among minorities. That is the primary reason. I am in favour of someone who looks at social administration and not just business administration seriously. That doesn't mean that I don't see what he has done and why people admire him," he said.
Sen, however, reacting on the ongoing controversy later told a news channel that he was ready to give back his 'Bharat Ratna' if former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked for it.