Today, no civil servant in the govt will talk to Opposition: Chidambaram

Former Union minister P Chidambaram on Sunday compared the earlier BJP government at the centre led by AB Vajpayee with Modi govt and said that even if the ministers then did not talk to the Opposition, there was a lot of opportunity to talk at the civil servants-level. That would then percolate up to the minister.

Commenting on the current scenario in Parliament, he said, "We are talking across the aisle to each other."

He also said that over the years, discourse has become very coarse in the nation and that Parliament is avoiding discourse.

According to him, the only place he felt he can engage with people is in the print and online medium.

Speaking on a variety of issues of national importance today, Chidambaram focused on the economic situation in the country which to him has not dramatically improved.

He added that the CAG report on telecom sector was a 'gross exaggeration' and the country was paying the price for the political twist given to the issue by political parties.

On the burning question of job creation, he opined that with small and medium businesses not growing, it's a logical conclusion that jobs were not being created.

"There is no Aladdin's lamp to rub and create jobs," he said and that the only solution for that to happen is private investment and credit growth.

Hitting out at the PM on his statement of pakoras and jobs, P Chidambaram said BJP thought selling pakoras as jobs which was akin to adding salt to wound.

Chidambaram also dwelt on the issue of freedom in the nation which many claimed was being slowly snatched away. "If you allow this to happen, on a day when you want to speak, you will not have a voice," he opined.

He is against the concept of one nation having one code, one religion, one language.

"We are a plural society and we have always been liberal," he said adding, "If we were not, how could other religions have come here."

The new narrative in the nation today according to him is anti-liberalism and anti-pluralism.

But it was his personal opinions on the Kashmir imbroglio that stunned many in the audience. P Chidambaram strongly believed the situation is worse than what it was in 1999 since the last 4 years.

Stressing on greater autonomy for Kashmiris, he said, "If you give greater autonomy to Kashmir, the heavens will not fall."

He felt it's about time to accept and acknowledge their demand for more autonomy.

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