Greetings from well-wishers make him feel "74 years young", Congress leader P Chidambaram, in jail on charges of corruption, said through his family on his birthday on Monday, and added that his thoughts on the day are on the economy.
Birthday wishes for Chidambaram, who is in judicial custody in Tihar jail in connection with alleged corruption in clearances given to INX Media when he was finance minister, came from his party colleagues as well as his son Karti Chidambaram. The veteran Congress leader thanked everybody and said his spirits had been “lifted higher”.
In another tweet, he said his thoughts today are about the country's economy.
"... Just one statistic tells the story. Export growth in August was -6.05%. No country has achieved GDP growth of 8% without exports growing at 20% a year," he said.
Karti Chidambaram’s Moving Letter
In a letter to his father on his 74th birthday, Karti informed his father about events that had transpired since he had been put in jail, and used the opportunity to take swipes at the BJP government.
“You are 74 years old and no 56!!! can stop you,” Karti wrote to his father as he wished him on his birthday.
"...your birthday is not the same without you with us. We miss you, and your absence tugs at our hearts, and we wish you were back home to cut the cake with us. But of course, in today's day and age, turning 74 is nothing compared to turning 100 days old," Karti said in the letter.
The BJP government, he added, celebrates its "unpropitious second innings" and couldn't have possibly found a better time to silence his father.
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