Modi belittled sacrifices of army: Chidambaram

Taking a dig at chief minister Narendra Modi on his home turf, Union home minister P Chidambaram said that not ‘budhiya’ or ‘gudiya’, but security, economic stability, communal harmony and foreign policy are issues of concern to the people. The home minister was speaking to media persons in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

“It needs to be remembered that these are national elections. The CM [Modi] seems to think that these elections are about Gujarat,” he said. Modi had earlier referred to the Congress party as a budhiya (old lady) and, later, as a gudiya (doll).

Reiterating that the country is not as affected by the recession as the rest of the world, Chidambaram said, “It needs to be underlined that India is not facing a recession, only a slowdown. It must be noted that India and China are the only two countries that have reported positive growth even in 2008-09, amid a global crisis. And, if any one (between Advani and Manmohan Singh) can handle the slowdown better, I am sure 90% of the people will vote for Singh.”

Slamming the Gujarat CM for his comments on the allegedly safe passage given to terrorists during the siege of the Hazratbal shrine in the Kashmir valley in 1995, Chidambaram said Modi’s statements could not be farther from the truth. He demanded an apology from the chief minister for belittling the sacrifices of the Army.

“Modi’s statements are factually incorrect,” Chidambaram said. “Someone holding the post of chief minister should not be allowed to get away with such lies. Here are the facts: in April 1995, terrorists entered the village where the Charar-e-Sharif shrine is located.