New Delhi, July 22: Narendra Modi’s incipient bid for prime ministership has received stinging disapproval from public intellectual and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

“I do not want Modi to be my Prime Minister,” Sen told Sagarika Ghose in an interview that aired on CNN-IBN tonight. “As an Indian citizen I could say we Indians don’t want a situation where the minorities feel insecure and could legitimately think that there was organised violence against them in 2002. That’s a terrible record. As an Indian citizen I do not want an Indian Prime Minister who has that kind of record.”

Sen’s remarks come at a time when Modi’s anointment as the BJP-NDA’s prime ministerial nominee for 2014 is being given final shape on the political anvil. RSS bosses have signalled approval from their Nagpur shadows. Modi’s party boss, Rajnath Singh, is on a PR mission to the United States, calling him the most popular leader across the land and probably even lobbying to have travel barriers imposed on the Gujarat chief minister following the 2002 anti-Muslim mayhem abrogated. His party spokespersons are in overdrive, pre-promoting his candidacy and protecting him from censure by rivals. Modi himself has launched into a cross-country scurry defining his vision of India to varied audiences.

That vision, Sen has raised blunt and unequivocal apprehensions about. “I don’t have to be a member of the minority community in order to feel insecure,” he said. “I could be a member of the majority and I will still say Modi no I don’t want (as Prime Minister). He could have done much more for the minorities than he has.”

Sen’s reservations about Modi clearly go beyond his understanding of the Gujarat leader as a communally divisive figure. He questioned his governance record as well and said he did not approve of the Modi model. “The Gujarat model draws on very good strengths that Gujarat traditionally had,” Sen said. “Emphasis on physical infrastructure interests a lot of businessmen, and he (Modi) has certainly achieved quite a bit on that. But he could also have taken note of the fact that Gujarat’s record in education and healthcare is very bad.”

In the economic context, Sen was more approving of the direction Bihar chief minister, and Modi’s bête noire, Nitish Kumar has chosen. “Nitish Kumar’s focus on education and healthcare is definitely admired and efficient. What he is doing, he is trying to learn more from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. He is trying to have a healthy educated labour force. “Yes, I do think his record at the moment is very good.”

Answering another question on comparisons drawn between Modi and Nitish, Sen said: “That comparison is slightly unfair. Nitish is dealing with the poorest state in India, Modi is dealing with a relatively richer state. I think in his condition Nitish is showing great vision in a way that will be very important for the future of Bihar… Modi could have been more secular, made the minority community feel more secure.”

“Bihar is the worst state in the country. If they have to pull them up the question is how could they do it. Whether this can be done without education and healthcare in which they are at the lowest level.”

“Nitish Kumar’s focus on education and healthcare is definitely admired and efficient. What he is doing, he is trying to learn more from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. He is trying to have an educated, healthy labour force. The basis for it — high capital growth rate. That has worked again and again across the world. Yes, I do think his record at this moment is very good.”

“That comparison is slightly unfair. Nitish is dealing with the poorest in India, Modi is dealing with relatively richer state. They have a long history of business success. I think in his condition Nitish is showing a great vision. In a way that will be very important for the future of Bihar.”

“Modi could have been more secular, made the minority community to feel more secure, the majority community could have not felt that they are being tolerant to minority community. And also he could have taken note of the fact that Gujarat’s record in education and healthcare is very bad. He needs to concentrate on that as much as he is concentrating on physical infrastructure. So it’s the question of learning.”