Indian activist Bobby Kunhu’s no-nonsense, brilliant commentary on the supremacist character of the Nobel prize & celebrations over the award to Abhijit Banerjee who is a supporter of the so-called ‘war on terror’ in Kashmir:

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“The parochialism surrounding the celebration of Abhijit Banerjee’s Nobel is indicative of how and why India is in the stranglehold of Hindutva politics today.

People claiming progressiveness and avowed left and anti RSS positions have been bending backwards to whitewash Banerjee as some kind of progressive man conveniently erasing his love for the RSS and the jingoism with which he approaches issues like Kashmir or Punjab because he has been to JNU or is a Bengali. T. K. Arun editorialises it to absurdity when he claims that Banerjee’s Nobel proves that JNU isn’t anti national.

In this context, I want to put down my own thoughts on the politics of Nobel prize. IMO there is nothing sacrosanct about the Nobel prize. All categories of Nobel are awarded based purely on the approval of white industrial hegemony. Why a Chinua Achebe, Ngugi, or a El Shabbazz would never win the prize. If a Tutu or a Mandela or an Arafat won it, it was the realpolitik of the time that forced the committee to give the award to them. Remember that Mandela shared the prize with de Klark and Arafat with Rabin and Peres.

This year’s peace prize winner is a classic example of the politics of the committee. Not taking away the work done by Abiy Ahmed in bringing peace to the region, he has complete backing of the industry for his initiatives at liberalising the economy and in a world that is filled with people without credibly like Modi, Johnson, Trump etc., he emerges a saint.

So, if Banerjee is your personal friend, good for you. But please don’t whitewash him as someone progressive.”