Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who launched a scathing attack on the Modi government’s ‘mismanagement’ of the economy at a press conference here on Thursday, said: “Nothing sums up the state of the economy better than the following series of numbers: 8, 7, 6.6, 5.8, 5 and 4.5. Those are the quarterly growth rates of GDP in the last six quarters. The third and fourth quarters of 2019-20 are not likely to be any better. We will be lucky to end the year if growth touches 5 per cent”.
Mr. Chidambaram asserted that the economic issues were structural and not cyclical. All indicators such as low rural wages and low rural consumption, fewer number of working days for daily wage earners, higher demand for work under the NREGA and lower sale of fast-moving consumer goods pointed to a depression in demand. “There is no demand today. People don’t want to buy because they have less money and they have less confidence about the future,” he said.
Asked about industrialist Rahul Bajaj telling Union Home Minister Amit Shah that people were scared to criticise the government, he said the businessman was tall enough to make those remarks at a meeting but there was “complete fear everywhere and the media is no exception.”
Mr. Chidambaram began his press conference by appreciating the Supreme Court bail order. He asserted that his stay in Tihar had only underscored the importance of freedom, especially for the political leaders in Kashmir.
“As I stepped out and breathed the air of freedom at 8 p.m. last night, my first thought and prayers were for the 75 lakh people of the Kashmir Valley who have been denied their basic freedoms since August 4, 2019... I am particularly concerned about the political leaders who have been detained without charges,” he said, adding that he would like to visit Kashmir if the government allowed.
Taking care not to violate the top court’s gag order on speaking about the merits of his case, Mr. Chidambaram said: “My record as a minister and my conscience are absolutely clear... We have total confidence that the courts will, ultimately, render justice.”
Asked if it was vendetta that kept him in custody for 106 days, he turned to his favourite poet Thiruvalluvar to say “those who do wrong and evil to you, do good to them.”
To a query on recent instances of rape, he said, “There is a complete breakdown of law and order in many parts of the country.”
