Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who on Monday turned 74, tweeted he felt 74 years young and that his thoughts were on the economy.
Mr. Chidambaram is now lodged in Tihar jail on charges of corruption in the INX Media case. “I have asked my family to tweet on my behalf the following: My family have brought me greetings from friends, party colleagues and well-wishers. I am reminded that I am 74 years old. Indeed I am, but at heart I feel 74 years young,” Mr. Chidambaram’s Twitter account said.
His son and Congress Lok Sabha member from Tamil Nadu, Karti Chidambaram, posted an emotional open letter where he targeted the Narendra Modi-led government.
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In a separate tweet, he said his thoughts were about the country’s economy. “Just one statistic tells the story. Export growth in August was -6.05%. No country has achieved GDP growth of 8% without exports growing at 20% a year. May God bless this country,” he said.
In his open letter, his son wrote: “You are 74 years old and no 56!!! can stop you.”
Mr. Karti said, “Although you have never been one for grand celebrations, and nowadays in the country, we seem to be making grand celebrations out of every little thing, your birthday is not the same without you with us. We miss you, your absence tugs at our hearts, and we wish you were back home to cut a cake with all of us.
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“But of course, in today’s day and age, turning 74 is nothing compared to turning a 100 days old,” he added.
Stating that he had met his father in jail, Mr. Karti went on to brief his father about a range of subjects: from Chandrayaan-2 mission, clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir, Nirmala Sitharaman’s remark on millennials to Piyush Goyal’s gravity analogy and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar celebrating 5% GDP as an achievement of 100 days of the Modi government.