Letters: Unfair on Bhagwati's part

This refers to the article "The Bhagwati-Sen Debate: An Epitaph" (August 9). It is distressing to see a world famous economist like Prof Jagdish Bhagwati descend to personal attacks in the course of his economic policy debate with Prof Amartya Sen. The ugliest part of it was his mentioning Sen's daughter. Why would he mention Sen's daughter in his commentary, effectively advertising the circulating pictures? If he thought that some people were retaliating against Sen's criticism of Narendra Modi by circulating his daughter's pictures, then, having brought that matter up, he should at least have strongly denounced such a mode of retaliation.

Sen's daughter is a graduate of Harvard University, and a high achiever in the field of dramatic arts. She is a writer and activist, apart from being an actor. How a modern woman expresses herself in the realm of art may not be palatable to some, but, in this day and age, an erudite professor is expected to show more respect for women involved in performing arts, or not mention them publicly at all.

Arun K Mukhopadhyay Canada

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