New Delhi / No 56 can stop you: Karti writes to his father P Chidambaram on his 74th birthday

You are 74 years old and no "56!!! can stop you," writes Karti Chidambaram to his father and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram who is celebrating his birthday at the Tihar jail. P Chidambaram was lodged at the Tihar jail on September 5 by a Delhi court in connection with the INX Media corruption case.

In a 2-page letter on Chidambaram's 74th birthday, Karti Chidambaram has informed his father of the various events that have happened since he has been jailed while taking digs at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre. Karti has covered a range of topics such as Kashmir, economic slowdown, Nirmala Sitharaman's remark on millennials and Piyush Goyal's gravity analogy, Assam NRC and the celebration of 100 days of the Modi government.

"...your birthday is not the same without you with us. We miss you, and your absence tugs at our hearts, and we wish you were back home to cut the cake with us. But of course, in today's day and age, turning 74 is nothing compared to turning 100 days old," Karti said in the letter.

"The BJP government celebrates their unpropitious second innings and they couldn't have possibly found a better time to silence you," reads the letter.

Karti Chidambaram begins with the Chandrayaan-2 mission, informing him about the lander Vikram losing communication with the Isro and "the big drama a little after that".

"Isro chief K Sivan was visibly upset and the prime minister was at hand to offer his arms and comfort to him with his iconic head grab. I sincerely hope our prime minister pegs the achievements of our Isro scientists a little above what his bhakts believe - that India's space programme, along with plastic surgery and aviation was created thousands of years ago...and not by Isro," he said.

PIYUSH GOYAL AND GRAVITY

Karti Chidambaram went on to take a dig at Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his statement on the theory of gravity and Einstein. Karti has written, "it must be rather relatively easy for bhakts to get confused between the two".

While responding to a question on India's GDP which has dropped to 5 per cent in this fiscal, Piyush Goyal had said, "Don't get into the calculations that you see on television... don't get into those maths. Maths never helped Einstein discover gravity."

Karti Chidambaram also mentioned Minister of Environment Prakash Javadekar's press conference during the celebration of 100 days of Modi government and how his father "missed Prakash Javadekar celebrating the GDP at a six-year-low of five per cent as you [P Chidambaram] had pointed out" when the media asked about the court order to send him to jail.

SITHARAMAN AND MILLENNIALS

Karti Chidambaram also mentioned Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement on the slowdown in auto sales, saying "you would have greatly appreciated Nirmala Sitharaman's astute insight that the economic slowdown has been principally caused by the millennials' preference for the ride-sharing apps.

APPLES GOT FREEDOM IN KASHMIR

On September 10, the Central government decided to directly buy apples from the apple growers in Jammu and Kashmir under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. The scheme offers direct transfer subsidies to the bank account of individuals.

Poking fun at the development and the situation in Kashmir, Karti said that the Centre has granted apples its freedom when Kashmir has been under lockdown for over 40 days. "What next? Carpets? Only you will understand the true plight of the Kashmiris because both of you have been locked down unfairly".

The next hearing in this P Chidambaram's case is scheduled on September 19 in Rouse Avenue Court and on September 23 at Delhi High Court. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to arrest him soon in connection to INX Media case as his anticipatory bail application was rejected by the Supreme Court.

"I have faith that you too will come out guns blazing against this elaborately staged political drama and for now, we all await that hard-fought glory of truth," Karti concludes the letter.