CHENNAI: In a blistering attack shortly after his release from jail, former Union Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday that the BJP wants to silence every political opponent. “The BJP is like the Ganges. I will not bathe in it. I will bow only before the law, and will not bend my head in front of injustice,” he said while addressing a party meeting in Chennai.
He said a few opposition leaders had become silent after the BJP-ruled Centre slapped cases against them. He recalled that after the Income Tax raids on the houses of two Congress MPs from Karnataka, former Rajya Sabha MP KC Ramamurthy joined the BJP.
Similarly, two Telugu Desam MPs YS Chowdary and C M Ramesh, who were close confidantes of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, also joined BJP. “The two MPs of TDP had stalled parliament activities for several days demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh."
Stating that the BJP was silencing every dissenting voice, and was throttling the freedom of media, he said the ruling party wanted no leader to speak against it in any public meeting. He claimed that the wrong policies of the BJP government had resulted in starvation deaths across India. “The 35 kgs of rice allotted to poor people under the Food Security Act during Congress rule has been reduced to five kg in the last five years in the present rule.”
Referring to economic slump which resulted in the loss of jobs, he said the country has about 30 crores, daily wage earners. “Earlier, daily wagers used to get jobs for about 25 days a month, but now it has reduced to 12 to 15 days,”
In another few days, the Union government is to take 1.75 lakh crore money reserve with RBI, of which 1.5 lakh crore is to be distributed to 800 business persons.