Chidambaram slams PM for Guj violence, UP moral policing

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the mob violence, saying that on the day when the Prime Minister invited the world to invest in India, Ahmedabad was hit by mob violence and moral policing was witnessed in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Chidambaram said on the day when the Prime Minister made a pitch for investing in India at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the moral police in Uttar Pradesh registered six cases against young couples found in public places. “On the day when PM invited world business to invest in India, Ahmedabad was hit by mob violence,” he tweeted, referring to the violent protests in Gujarat against the movie Padmaavat.

He slammed the government over the violence that erupted in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Tuesday night where malls and theatres were targeted by opponents of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie Padmaavat.

He also said that on the same day, human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar pulled up his junior colleague Satyapal Singh for trashing Darwin’s theory of evolution. “On same day, Supreme Court restrained NIA from investigating why a Hindu girl had chosen a Muslim boy to marry,” he tweeted.

On Tuesday, addressing the WEF summit at Davos, the Prime Minister had sought to hard sell India as an investment destination, saying those wanting wealth with wellness and peace with prosperity should come to the country.

The Congress has been critical of the violent protests taking place against the movie Padmaavat.

On Wednesday Congress president Rahul Gandhi had tweeted that “There will never be a cause big enough to justify violence against children... The BJP’s use of hatred and violence is setting our entire country on fire.”

Earlier the Congress had accused the BJP led government of bringing in the culture of intolerance. It had also taken out a march from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.