Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, in an exclusive interview with India Today TV, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam was his friend when the two studied in the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University in the 80s

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, in an exclusive interview with India Today TV, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam was his friend when the two studied in the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University in the 80s. He said his political views were not "dramatically different" than Nirmala Sitharaman's during their time in JNU.

Both Banerjee and Sitharaman are alumni of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. Abhijit Banerjee completed his Masters in Economics from JNU in 1983 while Nirmala Sitharaman completed her Masters in Economics and MPhil from there in 1984.

JNU has taught me a lot about India, says Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee as he speaks #exclusively to Rahul Kanwal#ITVideo



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While recalling his days in JNU and also the controversies the varsity has been part of in recent times, Abhijit Banerjee said that BJP MP Nirmala Sitharaman was his friend. "Nirmala Sitharaman was a friend of mine. She was at JNU and she was my contemporary," Banerjee said speaking exclusively to India Today News Director Rahul Kanwal.

Abhijeet Banerjee said he remembers Nirmala Sitharaman as an "intelligent person" and believes that their political views were not "dramatically different" from each other during their time in JNU.

"She was a very pleasant person and intelligent. Her political views were not dramatically different than mine," Abhijit Banerjee said.

On being asked if he was congratulated by Nirmala Sitharaman for winning 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, Abhijit Banerjee said: "She did tweet right away. I will take that as an endorsement."

Besides Sitharaman, Banerjee said that psephologist and political leader Yogendra Yadav was also his contemporary in JNU and they all had different views back then. "Yogendra Yadav and Nirmala Sitharam were both my contemporaries. We all had different views, we were in the making," Abhijit Banerjee said.

'Was extremely critical of previous governments too'

"I was extremely critical of many things that the previous government did."

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On accusations that he was critical of the BJP government, Abhijit Banerjee said the present government should check that he was "extremely critical" of the UPA government too.

"I think they should go back and read on my pronouncements on the past governments. I was extremely critical of the previous governments too," Abhijit Banerjee said.

Abhijit Banerjee said he has "no particular brief for bad policies" and one of the jobs of an academic and intellectual is to be critical of authority.

Was demonetisation a wise move? Listen in to what Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee has to say. @RahulKanwal#ITVideo

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"One of the jobs of an academic and intellectual is to be critical of the authority. If they only get kudos, you will never get change. I have no particular brief for bad policies. It is extremely important and it is our right to articulate constructive criticism. I think to be constructive you need to be allowed to be critical," Abhijeet Banerjee said.

Abhijit Banerjee also said that he would value the country doing well any day over his political biases being fulfilled.

"I would value the country doing well over particular political biases of mine getting favoured," Abhijit Banerjee said.

Banerjee visits alma mater JNU after Nobel honour

Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee visited his alma mater Jawaharlal Nehru University on Saturday.

Banerjee, who completed his Masters in economics from JNU in 1983, arrived in the university early in the morning and later met Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar. He also visited the Brahmaputra Hostel.

While studying in JNU in 1983, Abhijit Banerjee was among several students who had courted arrest following a standoff with the administration at the time. He was lodged in Tihar for 10 days although charges against him were dropped.

He used to participate in debates and discussions on politics during his university days but never ventured into campus electoral politics.

Couple Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize with Harvard's Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".

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