A furious Mamata Banerjee on Thursday lambasted the BJP for their alleged disrespect to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, adding the economist to the list of Bengal icons that she accused the saffron ecosystem of insulting, and sought his forgiveness on their behalf.

In a news meet at state secretariat in the evening, the chief minister was asked if Sen had illegally occupied land in Santiniketan.

The question was in the context of a purported list prepared by Visva-Bharati — a central varsity, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chancellor — of alleged illegal occupants of its land, including Sen.

“I respect Amartyada immensely. The whole world does. Every home in Bengal is proud of him. He is a Nobel laureate...Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Mother Teresa…. Do you really believe that there would come a day when Amartya Sen would have to encroach in Santiniketan?” asked a visibly outraged Mamata.

Visva-Bharati sources said they have listed around 78 plots either illegally occupied or wrongly registered in land records, and sent the list to the state government.

According to a senior varsity official, Sen’s house, Pratichi, is on a property leased out to his deceased father, of around 125 decimals of land, but Sen’s family allegedly occupies around 138 decimals.

“As far as I know, their family has been there for eight decades or so. Those saying these things, where are they from? How much do they know Bengal? They have no right at all to insult the likes of Amartya Sen,” said the chief minister, who has been at loggerheads with the varsity since vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, allegedly favourably disposed towards the saffron ecosystem, took charge.

“All because of what? Because Amartya Sen, personally, is a little against the BJP, ideologically…. That is why, (there are) all sorts of things (being said) against him,” she added.

Sen has been publicly critical of the Modi government at the Centre and some of the core philosophies of the RSS.

“This will not be tolerated by the people of Bengal. This is not only his insult; this is an insult of all of us. With folded hands… please forgive them Amartyada, they do not know how to show respect to even someone like you, I am sorry,” Mamata said.

She went on to ask Bengal’s chief-secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, deemed an expert on Bengal and its culture for his erudition, to explain the association between Sen’s family and Tagore.

Mamata also reacted to the recent controversy wherein an outfit of the varsity’s teachers claimed that vice-chancellor Chakrabarty in a faculty meeting on December 9 said that Sen had called him up identifying himself as “Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen” and requested Chakrabarty not to evict hawkers from the varsity land near his home as it would inconvenience his daughter who buys vegetables from there.

Sen had denied the alleged conversation.

“He has illegally occupied (land), he has allowed hawkers to illegally occupy (land)…. They will say anything they like against his home, Pratichi…. Those who insulted (him) will have to seek forgiveness. If they don’t, I will appeal to the entire civil society of Bengal, stand by Amartyada. Even at this age, he was not spared this insult. Everybody rise in protest,” added Mamata, promising to demand answers on the alleged insults to Sen, Tagore, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and other icons of Bengal, from her Bolpur rally next week.