Kerala Must Lead India in Defending Secularism: Amartya Sen

Thiruvananthapuram: Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen on Sunday said Kerala should take the lead in strengthening secularism in India, alongside sustaining its achievements in human development. He was speaking online at the three-day “Vision 2031” conference organised by the Kerala government.

Amartya Sen said that as he grows older, he often asks himself whether he has been able to hold on to the ideas he strongly believed in as a young man. "I fear not all of them. For example, I must acknowledge a weakening of my confidence in the invulnerability of secularism in India. The future of secularism will depend on whether we can resist the well-organised thrusting of smallness on this country," he said.

He noted that some of his early convictions have remained as strong today as ever. "As it happened, some of these ideas are closely related to Kerala's history in general and the emergence of an independent Kerala in particular, its astonishing economic and social achievements by empowering human capabilities through education, healthcare and social cooperation," he said.

Sen noted that Kerala appeared in international accounts as early as the 14th century. Referring to the travels of Ibn Battuta, he said the explorer had visited Walata, between present-day Ghana and Mali, and was surprised by the independence and social role of women there. Battuta observed that similar rights for women, including matrilineal inheritance, were found only in one other place during his travels - Kerala in India.

“What has been written about the role of women in Kerala’s astonishing economic and social advancement in modern times also has a historical background,” Sen said.

He also stressed Kerala’s openness to global influences. “There is a lot of propaganda these days about Indian intellectual greatness and Sanatan heritage,” he said. “There were indeed intellectual achievements in ancient India, but these were typically open-minded creations that did not discard ideas coming from outside.”

“The idea of give and take is well illustrated by the history of ancient Indian mathematics,” he said. Indian mathematics, he noted, flourished around 2,000 years ago under the influence of Greek and Babylonian traditions and later made a significant impact on world mathematics.

Sen described Aryabhata, the fifth-century mathematician who lived mainly in Pataliputra, now Patna, as a transformative figure. “But there is considerable evidence that he came from Kerala, which had many mathematicians and astronomers involved in work at home and abroad,” he said.

Recalling Kerala’s formation in 1956 and its first election in 1957, Sen said he was then in Kolkata, where intense discussions took place at the Coffee House on whether Kerala’s Left politics could introduce innovative approaches to development. Many were sceptical, as Kerala was among the poorest states at the time with limited financial resources.

He said Kerala has since emerged as one of the leading states in the country, not only in income but also in eliminating absolute poverty, improving life expectancy, ensuring basic education and expanding medical care while maintaining low fatality rates.

“I am ready to offer free cups of coffee to all those sceptics. That optimistic expectation needed no reservation regarding human development. Things have been as good as I hoped,” he said.

Amartya Sen added that he would be even happier if Kerala could further strengthen secular values. “I could have been happier still if Kerala could add safeguarding and further advancement of secularism, which remains strong in the state but has weakened in India,” he said.

“We have to see whether Kerala can make a definitive contribution for India as a whole,” he added.