Mumbai: Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said India has always been an intolerant society, even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on the political scene.
“This intolerance is responsible for discrimination, social stratification, exclusion—exclusion of women, Dalits, tribals etc," said Chidambaram while answering panelists moderated by journalist Anil Dharkar, at the launch of his book “Standing Guard: A Year in Opposition” in Mumbai on Monday.
Chidambaram said “what is worrying today is that intolerance is being institutionalised by voice of hate mongers.”
In a reference to his book he said if he has succeeded in encouraging dialogue, encouraging people to speak openly, discuss issues, discover themselves, then he has succeeded in his mission.
"It is necessary to have a dialogue between the leader and the people. The Prime Minister should not see critics and the Opposition as enemies," he said.
Describing Modi as a brilliant orator he observed “it is always a one-way street. He must make it two-way.” He suggested that he could do it through various fora and social media.
He said there was a need to bring back logic, reason and discourse in public domain and regretted that they had been replaced by hate and diatribe. “We should allow public discourse, but that’s not how I see public life today,” he rued.
When he started to write in the Indian Express, he said he was happy, as being in the Opposition he gets a chance to speak on the economy.
"But my columns on the economy soon turned to political economy. By the year-end the narrative in India changed to issues comprising of polity, social positioning and the column towards the latter part of the year became political. One is usually proud of one’s achievement at the end of one year. But it was not to be,” he said.
