There are reports that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen will not receive the West Bengal government’s highest civilian award, the Banga Bibhushan Samman, scheduled to be conferred on Monday. Speculation is rife over the news since it broke amid a political hullabaloo and call for award boycott by a prominent Left leader over the recovery of a huge amount of money from a female aide of West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee and his subsequent arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the teachers’ recruitment scam.

However, it has not been confirmed if the same is in any way linked to the recent backlash against the Mamata government over the SSC scam and Partha Chatterjee episode. The source of the news in local media has been attributed to the Nobel laureate’s family on Sunday.

“The economist is currently abroad.  Amartya Sen is not returning to the country now,” his daughter said, according to local news channels. However, the reason why he is not receiving the ‘Banga Bibhushan’ award has not been spelled out.

The award ceremony is scheduled to be held in Kolkata on Monday. 

With the Partha Chatterjee episode triggering strong political reactions, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty had earlier urged another Nobel laureate from the state, economist Abhijit Vinayak Bandyopadhyay, and other eminent people, to refuse awards from the West Bengal government mired in scams involving teacher recruitments.

Bengali news channel ABP Ananda reported: “Amartya Sen’s daughter Antara Devsen has confirmed that he is not receiving the award. He is abroad and he had said that in advance [alluding that it was much before the recent episode over Partha Chatterjee].”

Enforcement Directorate officials on Saturday arrested West Bengal Minister and Trinamool Congress heavyweight Partha Chatterjee in connection with the teacher recruitment scam in the state. 

The arrest occurred just a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday recovered more than Rs. 20 crores in cash from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, an associate of Partha Chatterjee, in connection with an alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.

The ED raided Arpita Mukerjee’s flat in south Kolkata from where they seized the huge stash of cash.