‘Does Mr Modi Read Anything at All?’: Chidambaram Slams PM Over ‘Corrupt no 1’ Jibe at Rajiv Gandhi

New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the life of Rajiv Gandhi ended as “corrupt no. 1”, referring to the Bofors scam, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram accused the PM of crossing “all limits of propriety and decency”.

“Mr Modi has crossed all limits of propriety and decency by defaming a man (Rajiv Gandhi) who died in 1991. (sic),” Chidambaram tweeted.

On Saturday at a rally in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi, in an attack aimed at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that his father was termed “Mr Clean by his courtiers, but his life ended as ''Bhrashtachari No 1'' (corrupt number 1)". This was in response to Rahul’s allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.

Chidambaram further wrote that the charges against late Rajiv Gandhi were dropped by the Delhi High Court and the BJP government had decided against filing an appeal in the Supreme court against the high court’s decision.

“Does Mr Modi read anything at all? Does he know that the charge against Mr Rajiv Gandhi was thrown out by the High Court, Delhi as "completely baseless?" (sic),” he wrote.

The Bofors scandal involved allegations that Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors had paid huge kickbacks to Rajiv Gandhi and others for the sale of its artillery gun to India. The high court had said there was no evidence that Rajiv Gandhi accepted any bribes.

Congress leader Ahmed Patel also slammed the PM over his statement and said, “Those whose nationalism is pseudo and whose politics is based on dividing people will never understand Rajiv Gandhi and his sacrifice for the nation.”