Raids meant to silence me, says P Chidambaram

Chennai: Former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday decried the raids and filing of a case against his son Karti as an attempt to “silence my voice and stop me from writing” against the Narendra Modi dispensation at the Centre.

Mr Chidambaram, who is quite vocal in his criticism against the Modi-led NDA Government both inside and outside Parliament, alleged that the CBI was being used to target his son and his friends.

“The government, using the CBI and other agencies, is targeting my son and his friends. The government’s aim is to silence my voice and stop me from writing, as it has tried to do in the cases of leaders of Opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs and civil society organisations. All I will say is, I shall continue to speak and write,” Mr Chidambaram said in a statement as the raids were under way.

Mr Chidambaram writes a weekly column criticising the Union government’s policies in a newspaper.

On the CBI’s case relating to the INX Media getting FIPB approval, the former Union minister said approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials, the Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra said.

“There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against me,” Mr Chidambaram said, adding that each and every case was processed according to law and approval was granted or refused in accordance with the recommendations of the FIBP consisting of five Secretaries to the Government of India.

On his part, Karti also said the filing of cases against him and raids on his properties were being done out of political vendetta and to stop his father from criticising the Union government.

“They have not seized any documents and cannot prove any charges against me. I have not done anything wrong,” Karti told reporters here.

Claiming that the central government was acting out a “political vendetta”, he said the raid was being held to “silence the voice” of his father.