Advertisement
Opinion | Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel Prize and Indian media can’t get enough of his mum
- The poverty researcher has just jointly won one of the world’s most respected awards – therefore his mum is at the centre of media attention
- As curious as it sounds, the phenomenon is not strange in India, where patriarchy is deeply rooted and the mother-son relationship is idealised above all others
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
When Indian-American economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in October, the achievement was widely celebrated in his native India.
Advertisement
The judges conferred the award on Banerjee, his MIT colleague and wife Esther Duflo, and Harvard University’s Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.
On his return to India, Banerjee received a “rousing welcome” at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport, where masses of people gathered to congratulate him with posters, pictures and slogans of “Bharater Gorbo” (Pride of India), local media reported.
But even as the nation revelled in his accomplishment, it wasn’t quite Banerjee people wanted to hear from – they seemed more interested to learn about the economist through the eyes of his affectionate mother.
Advertisement
Nirmala Banerjee, 83, a retired economics professor herself, made headlines for welcoming her elder son home with his favourite dishes of fish curry and mutton kebab, sharing what he was like as a boy, praising his cooking skills, and defending his criticism of the government.
Advertisement