Amartya gets SIR hearing notice, Abhishek slams ‘bid to unmap icons’
Times of India | 7 January 2026
Bolpur/Kolkata: An SIR hearing notice to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen prompted Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday to call the move an affront to Bengal and icons who brought global recognition to India. The EC clarified that the notice had been generated due to a "spelling error", and the local BLO would go to ‘Pratichi' — Sen's residence in Bolpur — and rectify it.
Addressing a public meeting in Birbhum, Banerjee said: "A Nobel laureate who helped build a prosperous nation is now being served an SIR notice. Through Amartya Sen, the world knows and respects India. Under his influence, the country's global stature grew. And today, that very man is being served an SIR notice." He described the development as both shocking and shameful. "Nobel laureate Amartya Sen carried India's intellect and values onto the world stage. And yet today, even a figure of his stature is being humiliated by BJP-controlled EC."
Alleging that influential voices from Bengal were being systematically targeted, Banerjee said: "This is not an isolated insult. Actor Dev and cricketer Mohammed Shami were also served notices. As if achievement, integrity and dignity mean nothing any more."
Banerjee in his rally asserted that TMC's fight was not merely electoral but also a struggle to protect the dignity and identity of Bengal's people. "BJP agents who want to unmap the people of Bengal must themselves be unmapped from Bengal and driven out forever," he said.
Sen's name does not figure in the 2002 SIR list. According to local administration officers, the name of Amita Sen, the Nobel laureate's late mother, featured in the 2002 list. Amartya Sen became a voter in 2014 and cast his votes in the Lok Sabha polls of that year.
When the SIR process started in Bengal on Nov 4, an SIR enumeration form was issued in Sen's name. The filled-in form was submitted by Sen's cousin Santabhanu. The latter told TOI, "We did not physically receive a notice in our hands. The caretaker (of Pratichi) tells me of all letters which reach there. He did not tell me anything about the SIR hearing notice."