Kolkata, Jan 28 (PTI) The TMC described senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's comment about Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as "intellectual bankruptcy" and accused the Nandigram MLA of being "incapable" of comprehending economics.

Adhikari had criticised Sen for claiming that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal was being conducted with “undue haste” and might jeopardise democratic participation, particularly with the assembly elections approaching in a few months.

“A thorough review of electoral rolls done carefully with adequate time can be a good democratic procedure, but this is not what is happening in West Bengal at this time," Sen had said.

In response to Sen's remarks in an interview with PTI last week, Adhikari told reporters, "There is little point in replying to him. What contribution does he have in creating employment opportunities for youth in Bengal?" "What effective suggestions did he give to take the state forward in economic growth in all these years? He only keeps making such biased observations," Adhikari said when asked by reporters in his constituency Nandigram.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh on Wednesday alleged that Adhikari was "not capable of comprehending the intricacies of economic and financial issues and blinded by the regressive, anti-Bengal, anti-progressive ideology of the saffron party".

"Suvendu makes such statements to please his political masters in the BJP. He doesn't know what he says or means," Ghosh claimed.

In a sharp attack on Adhikari, the TMC said, "Tantrums of a lunatic raging at greatness he can neither reach nor comprehend!" "...Adhikari's attack on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen is a public exhibition of intellectual bankruptcy. When a man whose political career is synonymous with abuse, distortion, and disgrace attempts to lecture one of the world's most respected economists, it inevitably results in comedy," the party alleged in a post on X.

The TMC also said Amartya Sen is globally celebrated for reshaping how the world understands poverty, famine, welfare, and human development.

"Suvendu Adhikari, meanwhile, has distinguished himself by contributing absolutely nothing to thought, governance, or society," West Bengal's ruling party claimed.

"This is what happens when mediocrity confronts excellence. A mind incapable of understanding economics naturally attacks economists. A career built on opportunism naturally despises integrity. And a man allergic to ideas predictably lashes out at intellect," the TMC alleged.

BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya could not be contacted for comments on the TMC's allegations. PTI SUS BDC

Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls criticised as risking voter participation amid heated political rebuttals. The dispute centers on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal; Amartya Sen warned that an unduly hasty SIR could jeopardise democratic participation ahead of assembly elections, and political figures traded sharp criticisms-Suvendu Adhikari rebutting Sen's comment and the Trinamool Congress denouncing Adhikari's response as evidence of incapacity to comprehend economic or electoral issues.