Govt against "thinkers", fosters atmosphere which destroys critical thinking: Yechury

The government was against "thinkers" and fosters an atmosphere which "destroys" critical thinking, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday said, a day after Indian American and JNU alumni Abhijit Banerjee was awarded the Nobel Prize along with two others in Economics.

Tagging his comment with a cartoon on Twitter, which showed Nobel laureates from West Bengal - Rabindranath Tagore and Amartya Sen asking latest entrant Banerjee to join the club and to keep his award safe as well as thoughts to himself, Yechury said the government was against the spirit of inquiry.

"RSS/BJP govt believes in FIRs against thinkers and attacks on Universities. They foster a climate that works to destroy critical thinking, reason and the spirit of inquiry. Our Constitution speaks of a commitment to scientific temper but that would threaten the RSS/BJP government," he said.

Yechury said the government should focus on feeding the poor and building a robust public distribution system.

"First feed our poor. Increase subsidised food allocation through public distribution system. But the Modi govt is busy in destroying our social fabric, and in PR and tamashas