P. Chidambaram

Palaniappan Chidambaram (பழனியப்பன் சிதம்பரம்) (born 16 September 1945) is an Indian politician and present Union Minister of Home Affairs| of the Republic of India. He is among the most prominent cabinet ministers of the ruling-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) union government led by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. From May 2004 to November 2008, he was the Finance Minister of India. After the resignation of Shivraj Patil, Chidambaram was made the Home Affairs Minister.

P. Chidambaram

Quotes

• This is complete rubbish. They did this a month and a half ago when there was another incident.We want peace in South Asia. We want no terror in South Asia. We don't export terror. We have zero tolerance for terror whether it is within India or outside India.Pakistan is only taking half measures in the fight against terrorism. Pakistan is paying the price for not heeding our advice.
  • (about the 2009 Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricket team) Naqvi, Jawed (2009-03-05). "Chidambaram denies Indian link to Lahore attack". Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 

• It (Pakistan) is not a failed state, but it is threatening to become one.A great concern is weighing on our minds. In Pakistan, with regret, I would say we don't know who is in control there. Whether it is the army or the president or the government
  • (about the 2009 Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricket team)Pakistan threatening to become failed state - India, Reuters, 2009-03-6.

• It is shocking, It is quite obvious that security of the Sri Lankan players has been hopelessly inadequate. We condemn the shooting and we hope that players like Samaraweera and Mendis are safe and will recover.
  • (about the 2009 Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricket team) "Security of Sri Lankan players hopelessly inadequate: Chidambaram". Times of India (Times of India). 3 March 2009. Retrieved on 3 March 2009. 

• I strongly condemn the statement of a BJP leader and a Member of Parliament that the BJP has come here to eradicate ‘Periyarism’ (Periyar policy) in Tamil Nadu. Father Periyar was the one who fought and won against the poisonous policy of ‘Sanatana Dharma’.
  • P. Chidabaram on Twitter, — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 5, 2021 [1] [2]

• “What will India do if Pakistan designates August 15 as ‘Partition Horrors Condemnation Day’?” “Hostility apart, India and Pakistan are neighbours. We can change our friends but we cannot change our neighbours. India should behave as a mature and seasoned nation.”
  • Tweet on Twitter, Aug 2021 also at [3]

• It is the vaccine or vaccines that will win the war against COVID-19, not the government or mythological beliefs.
  • Jan 2021

• Government must immediately provide funds to ramp up production in India and increase supplies. Government must also authorise the use of more approved vaccines and allow their manufacture or import.
  • Apr 2021

• We have a duopoly of two vaccines, but they are hardly sufficient to vaccinate a nation of 138 crore people.
  • Apr 2021

About P. Chidambaram

• . “Yes he has been arrested for raising his voice agst PM Modi for his illegal acts in Kashmir by scraping the sp status of Kashmir. He raised his voice in favour of oppressed Kashmiris. Note it Mr Chidambaram is going to be ur next PM. He is capable politician.”
  • Rehman Malik Tweet on Twitter, Aug 23, 2019 quoted in [4]

• What the finance minister has done is give petty, and usually corrupt, officials the right to march into your home or mine and take it over if according to his assessment, we haven’t paid enough taxes….we never before had a Finance Minister who believes he has the fundamental right to trample upon our rights in the name of tax collection. The most they did in the past was ‘raid’ those they suspected of evading taxes. A barbaric enough practice in a country that fancies itself as civilised, but baby stuff compared to what Chidambaram now orders his goons to do….the Finance Minister has also decided that tax inspectors will be held responsible if they fail to ‘attach’ in advance the property of a possible defaulter. Draconian is too mild a word for what the Finance Minister is up to, but we must remember that this is the man who once gave us TADA and the Defamation Bill. There are other reasons to fight for our right to property, and they concern the poorest of the poor. Because Indians do not have the right to own property, policemen and municipal officials routinely confiscate and destroy property belonging to pavement hawkers, rickshawallahs and streetchildren. These are people who constitute what our politicians like to call the ‘weakest sections’ of the society, so let us have no qualms in acknowledging that the Prime Minister’s move to introduce reservations for ‘weaker sections’ in private companies is for political and not compassionate reasons. Had any Prime Minister one ounce of compassion for the ‘weaker sections’, he would have arrested officials and policemen who steal from pavement hawkers and rickshawallahs….Meanwhile, I have a proposition for P Chidambaram. If he insists on going ahead with the mad idea, then let us begin in Parliament. Let every Member of Parliament’s declaration of assets be scrutinised not just by the Finance Ministry’s unreliable policemen but us. Let us find out how men who began their career in politics with a few hundred rupees to their name became owners of lakhs and crores worth of assets. I am willing to bet that men who have declared themselves worth only a couple of lakhs will be wearing watches that cost more than that. Let us set up a citizen’s tribunal before which the MPs can appear and have their assets publicly scrutinised. Let us ask them the sort of questions tax inspectors ask when they barge into people’s homes: How much is that shawl, that pair of shoes, that bangle for? Who paid for these things? Where are the bills? Can you prove they were heirlooms? If not, we hereby attach your property. If our elected representatives are prepared to go through with this kind of exercise and if our ministers and wives also come forward to explain how they acquired their crores worth of assets, then it would be fair for the Finance Minister to go ahead with the draconian new measures. Otherwise, it is time he woke up to the reality that India is no longer an economic dictatorship, and can never be. All he will achieve through his madcap schemes is to widen the roads of corruption. The only people who must be thrilled by his new measures are the tax inspectors. Does P Chidambaram not understand this?
  • Tavleen Singh (“His Right to Attach Property”, The Sunday Express, 10/10/2004), Quoted in [5] [This article is a major extract from the article "Sita Ram Goel, memories and ideas" by S. Talageri, written for the Sita Ram Goel Commemoration Volume, entitled "India's Only Communalist", edited by Koenraad Elst, published in 2005.

• Chidambaram was the first big leader to give credence of the hypothesis of Hindu terror at an official level. While chairing a meeting of state police chiefs on 25 August 2010, he termed ‘saffron terror’ as a major threat to the nation. He drew flak for giving prominence to left-wing insurgency and the alleged Hindu terrorism over Jihadi terrorism during the meeting. It was the time when the line of investigation of the NIA investigation was completely changed and anti-Hindu propaganda was in full swing.
  • Tiwari, D. P., . (2019). The great indian conspiracy. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.