At age 72 now, he is undoubtedly erudite, our “Chiddu”, short for P.Chidambaram, presently an honorable member of our country’s Rajya Sabha.
He possesses graduation degrees both in Statistics and Law, topped by a Masters from the prestigious Loyola College of Chennai and above all, by a Masters from Harvard Business School. He has been a Senior Advocate of Madras High Court since 1984 and a corporate lawyer of repute for years. The icing on this huge cake is that he was the Home Minister of the Union of India for almost four years from 29th November 2008.
No purpose will be served by pretending that there is no issue or there is no dispute between India and Pakistan.
Yet, sadly, his presumably large glass bookshelf does not seem to include the historic book dealing with the development of the Jammu & Kashmir Constitution, authored by the late Chief Justice of India, Adarsh Sein Anand, based on his dissertation in April 1963 to the Law Faculty of the London University, which earned him a Ph.D. Either that landmark doesn’t exist in his library of the erudite man. As we shall see, that is the book that tells the real story of why Pakistan’s first move of aggression and treachery against the British created Dominion of India has become the real issue behind the Indo-Pak logjam we are facing for over 70 years.
But “Chiddu”, thinks otherwise. In his weekly column in a major newspaper dated 7th January 2018, he wrote the following absolutely shocking lines:
“Infiltration and militancy, supported by Pakistan, have caused turmoil in J&K. But it would be wrong to think that the issue is infiltration and militancy. Infiltration and militancy are the consequences of the issue. The issue is the long-pending dispute concerning the accession of Kashmir. The state of J&K was forcibly divided following the first war between India and Pakistan in 1947 and remains divided until this day. Four wars have been fought over the issue. No purpose will be served by pretending that there is no issue or there is no dispute between India and Pakistan.”
Now, “Chiddu”, the erudite man, being overcome by dementia about Justice Sen’s book seems implausible— after all, 72 years is hardly the age to be afflicted with dementia.
Why does the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries meet even more often than their NSAs?
Is he then being as obsessively critical of Narendra Modi’s Kashmir policy merely a replica of what he did in 1969? That was when he signaled revulsion for his father’s thriving business and trading activities when by joining N.Ram (known for his Leftist perspective) in starting a journal called the Radical Review. He may well be badly hurt by the wide popularity of Modi, who has almost demolished his Congress party and may well go ahead to finish that job in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, thereby obliterating any chance of “Chiddu” regaling his Gandhi donated right to rule a large sector of the country. It could indeed add salt to injury that Modi has done it all with his all-inclusive Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas approach delivered in masterly oratorical Hindi — a language that “Chiddu” himself does not speak, let alone understand its nuances.
Come now to the above covert but ugly criticism of “Chiddu”. Its most important sting is that the Modi’s government believes that “there is no issue between India and Pakistan.”
That criticism is simply not true. If it were so, the Modi government would not have consistently maintained that it is indeed prepared to discuss the outstanding items between the two countries. A full agenda had even been drawn up but one dastardly terror attack from our western neighbor brought it to a halt. The present government in New Delhi has also maintained thereafter that talks and terror cannot go together. If indeed it believed that no bone of contention existed between the two, why do the National Security Advisers of the two countries meet as often as they do? Why does the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries meet even more often than their NSAs? But talks between the two countries cannot be held even as terrorists keep inflicting us almost every day? We simply cannot keep on showing our second cheek for being slapped. Period. The Modi government’s stand is not that of a coward, simple.
As then there’s the claim that “The issue is the long-pending dispute concerning the accession of Kashmir. The state of J&K was forcibly divided following the first war between India and Pakistan in 1947, and remains divided until this day.” It is simply laughable — for those who have digested what Justice Anand’s book says about the origins of the first Indo-war of 1947 and its devastating effect long after it was over on 1st January 1948 after almost 15 months of fighting. We’ll go into that with a former Chief Justice of India Justice Anand in Part 2.
…to be continued
His freelancing career began in "The Times of India" with a sports article published when he was a month shy of 20 years of age. He was also a regular political affairs columnist first for rediff.com for five years or so and then shifted to sify.com. He also wrote extensively for niticentral.com "till it stopped publication."
- To Editors’ Guild; May we also have our say… please? - July 17, 2019
- Farooq Sahab is either down with dementia or he is a congenital liar? - July 8, 2019
- Shah Bano, Muslims in gutter &Zakaria’s secularism - June 30, 2019
A Pseudo Intellectual Secular just trying to fill his own coffers all the time. Why does not a single Intellectual ask Karti to present himself before the IOs.
[…] 1 of this article can be accessed here. This is part […]
PC is a pseudo intellectual. We were not safe when he was home minister. Our financed were not safe when he was FM. The present government kashmir policy is perfect. Just look at the number of terrorists being gunned down the raids on separatist leaders have exposed their corrupt dealings. So much so there was no impact when they gave a call for shutdown last week. Govt should knock down 35A and special status for Kashmir and expose the rogue elements in Kashmir. Thereafter negotiation can be done
I believe that the fundamental problem of most of our old politicians (especially those who came in after the Independence struggle) is that they do not believe in the concept of India. They still maintain allegiances to the states that they originate from or where they made their wealth. If that weren’t the case India wouldn’t have such diverse living quality across all states. This is also further corroborated by the fact that Rahul Gandhi equates India to the European Union – so for him Goa is Lichtenstein and UP is Germany – held together by some broad governing principles and a currency but otherwise unique.
Now we all know Rahul Gandhi does not have the basic IQ to postulate such a theory, so obviously this is something that he has imbibed while growing up or this is the intrinsic mob mentality in the so called Secular parties.
To summarize, Chidambaram is just an honest servant of this morally corrupt system and to solely hold him responsible is to simplify the issue. The whole core is rotten and we need decisive leadership to get us out of this rut. “Sab ka Saath Sab ka Vikas” is what we truly need but we are a humongous distance away from a true India.
Facts are that certain non- muslim families achieved their positions by collaborating with the Islamic invaders, obtained positions of power in their rule as reward, rules over Hindus /buddhists/sikhs ,and exploited and still wish for the good old days.
Nehru gandhi family is a prime example.- thet served in all muslim courts from Kashmir, to Delhi, to Lucknow,to Hyderabad, to Chennai.They ran the administration for the Islamic invaders.
Chidambaram is a faihful servant of the Islamic rulers.
O! for the good ol days !
I hope he has not invested ill gottenwealth in pak,
Chidambaram is corrupt morally & in actions. Do not understand how much money he is going to take with his dead body ? How much bad karma he has accumulated ?? Infact find the Chambal dacoits were more god fearing than this Chidambaram.