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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.

Chidambaram remark may spark a French Revolution in India: Shahid Siddiqui