Ready to return Bharat Ratna if Vajpayee asks: Amartya Sen

A major slugfest erupted today over BJP MP Chandan Mitra's demand for stripping nobel laureate Amartya Sen of the Bharat Ratna award and the economist offering to return it if Atal Bihari Vajpayee asks him to do so.

While BJP steered clear of the controversy, Congress waded into it with an attack saying it reflected the 'fascist mentality' of BJP.

'Mr Chandan Mitra may not know that the Bharat Ratna was given to me by the BJP-led government and was handed to me by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If Mr Vajpayee wants me to return it, I will certainly return it,' Amartya Sen told Times Now.

He said it was unfortunate that such a demand had come forth and termed it as a 'personal' view of Mitra.

'To get into a political debate and somebody takes a view which seems to me is rather unfair...To all the people as well....I think it is unfortunate....It is so unproductive actually,' Sen said.

He added that during the BJP-led NDA government, he has had a lot of discussion with leaders like L K Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Arun Jaitley.

Demanding that Sen be stripped of his Bharat Ratna, Mitra had said he was not even a voter in India and wondered whether a Bharat Ratna awardee should speak for or against any party or a leader.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari hit out at the BJP for its attack on Sen, who had raised the heckles of the saffron party saying he did not want to see Narendra Modi as prime minister since he did not have secular credentials. The prominent economist had also criticised Modi's model of governance saying he did not approve of it.