Chidambaram says his take on growth rate cut has come true

Chennai, Jun 17: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has said that his forecast on growth rate cut after demonetisation has come true. "A demonetisation-like grief should not befall any country," the former Union minister said, claiming that it had been hugely "detrimental" to the Indian economy in the 21st century.

"A day after demonetisation was announced, I had said in Parliament that it would lead to a cut in the growth rate by 1.5 per cent," Chidambaram recalled. While the GDP growth rate was 8.2 per cent in 2015-16, it was 6.7 per cent in 2017-18. "My heart is aching as what I had said has come true. I am not happy that what I had said has come true," the former Union Minister said.

"I write only for this, a government should not cause grief, if it does, the people should question it," he added. At the launch function of the Tamil version (titled Vaimaye Vellum) of his 'Speaking Truth to Power' yesterday, the senior Congress leader said, "Everybody should write and speak" to end discrimination.

'Speaking Truth to Power' is a collection of his essays that appeared in a national daily and it was launched earlier this year by former president Pranab Mukherjee. Chidambaram said he believed that caste discrimination and political irregularities can be ended and economic wrongs corrected only by writing and speaking against it. Recollecting India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's famous letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi from prison, he said, "I say everybody should write."

PTI