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Chidambaram remark may spark a French Revolution in India: Shahid Siddiqui | Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's remarks on the Indian middle class that they do not mind paying more for drinking water but protest against increase in price
of rice would lead to a 'huge revolution, allowing Naxalites to roam freely in
cities and turn people towards violence', said Shahid Siddiqui of the Samajwadi
Party. Citing the example of the 18th century French Revolution, Siddiqui said:
"Before the French Revolution, the Queen of France when she was told that people
are fighting and protesting because they don't have bread, she said, if they don't
have the bread, why don't they eat cake. So, it is the same kind of statement.
And, it brought about the biggest revolution in modern history, the French Revolution.
And, if such a senior leader speaks like that, then I am afraid this county may
see a huge revolution." "We are talking about Naxalites in the jungles of Chhattisgarh,
you may see those Naxalites in the cities. People may become violent. If a person
like Chidambaram speaks like that then what I can say is 'Allah Hi Maalik Hai Is
Desh Ka'. Siddiqui further said Pranab Mukherjee's exit from the Congress Party
should be seen as a big loss to the ruling UPA Government. "Pranab Mukherjee was
one man who knew every ministry, who knew every official, who knew how to manage the opposition. He was the best possible political manager any party could have ever had, and it is a big loss to the government, big loss to the Congress Party,"
said Siddiqui. "But anyways, nothing stops because of anybody, things will go
on," he added. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also condemned Chidambaram's statement
yesterday, and asked him to apologize to the whole nation for it. "Chidambaram,
who sits in an air-conditioned room, travels by air and has a foreigner's point
of view, does not sympathise with the common man. There are over 600 million people
below the poverty line today who are unable to scrape (up) one square meal," said
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. "But, P. Chidambaram thinks that the people
of the country, like Congressmen, have access to mineral water and ice cream.
The Congress, which claims to speak for the common people, has insulted them instead,"
he added. Hussain further said that Chidambaram's remark was indicative of how
the ruling party has distanced itself from common man's problems. "The leaders
of the Congress have distanced from the common people. For them, the common man
exists in their posters and slogans alone. That is why such a remark was made,"
he said. Chidambaram had earlier on Tuesday said the Indian middle class spends
money on mineral water and ice cream without fuss, but protests against a small
increase in the price of rice and wheat. "There's steady rise in the minimum support
price of paddy, wheat and sugarcane, reflected in the prices of commodities. When
the urban middle class can buy a bottle of mineral water for Rs 15 and ice cream
for Rs 20, why do they make so much noise about price rise?" he said. "The rise
has directly benefited farmers. We raised fuel prices because the global crude
prices had gone up. We also gave relief by bringing down the petrol price twice.
There needn't be any complaint for price rise when things are on the side of poor
farmers," he added, while trying to justify the increase in prices. The Home Minister
has issued a statement clarifying his remarks at Bangalore . The Home Minister
made a matter-of-fact statement. He did not 'mock' or 'chide' any one. If the
interview is viewed, it will be seen that he spoke in a matter-of-fact manner.
"You mentioned high food prices. Yes food inflation is high. But higher procurement
prices will reflect in slightly higher food prices. But higher procurement prices
benefits millions of farmers. If you increase the price of sugarcane, sugar cannot
be cheaper than before. If you increase the price of procured wheat or procured
paddy, rice and wheat for the consumer cannot be less," said a clarification issued
by the Home Ministry, as quoting Chidambaram. "Sometimes, and I have written about
this once, we are prepared to pay fifteen rupees for a bottle of water but we
will not bear one rupee increase in the price of a kilo of wheat or a kilo of
rice. We are prepared to pay rupees twenty for an ice cream cone but won't pay
one rupee more for a kilo of wheat or rice," he added.
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