Chennai: Strongly in favour of raising the income tax slab to compensate the increasing inflation, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said he did not agree with the views of the Chief Economic Adviser who has opposed such a rise.
Answering questions from panelists after the release of his book titled Standing Guard: A year in opposition, here, the senior Congress leader said the tax slabs should be increased to neutralise inflation. On this basis alone, the dearness allowance for government staff is hiked, he said.
Defending his views on the JNU students’ function to debate the hanging of Afzal Guru, he said “I just said a person could hold an honest opinion that a case had not been correctly decided”. When further asked if he would support the view that the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case were wrongly convicted, Chidambaram said, “The question is not about the judgment of a case.
But, it is about whether a person can hold an honest opinion that a case has not been correctly decided. How can it be called anti-national and how can it become sedition?”
He dismissed the charge that the Congress is playing minority appeasement on the Afzal Guru issue. He said the duty of the majority is to protect minorities. He also appealed to everyone to know the views of “those which are not of our kind”.
He said the views of Muslims, Dalits and tribals should be understood by everyone.
“The majority in Pakistan should protect the minorities there. Similarly, Muslims in Kashmir should protect the Pandits”, he said.
