Chidambaram says proud to be ‘andolan jeevi’

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in Rajya Sabha that the country should be cautious of a new community of people, whom he called “andolanjeevi”, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Wednesday said he is a proud andolan jeevi.

“I am a proud andolan jeevi. The quintessential andolan jeevi was Mahatma Gandhi,” he said in a tweet.

I am a proud andolan jeevi. The quintessential andolan jeevi was Mahatma Gandhi.#iamanandolanjeevi

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 10, 2021

Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha, Modi had on Monday warned the country against “a new class of people that has emerged”. “That is andolanjeevi. This jamaat appears at lawyers’ agitations, can be seen at students’ agitations, at workers’ agitations. Somewhere they are behind the scenes, somewhere in the forefront. They cannot live without agitating… We will have to identify them, (those) who give an ideological slant, mislead.”

A day after Modi’s speech, leaders of farmers’ unions condemned the “insult of farmers by the Prime Minister by calling them andolan-jivi (survivors on protests)”.

Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union stated on behalf of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha: “No doubt Punjab’s contribution needs to be acknowledged but this andolan is of all farmers of this country…SKM condemns the PM insulting farmers by calling them andolan-jivi. Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is andolans that have liberated India from colonial rulers and that is why we are proud to be andolan-jivi…”