‘Too much bureaucracy’, Chidambaram returns jibe on Amitabh Kant’s "too much democracy" comment

P Chidambaram (File Image: PTI)

Seemingly returning a jibe made by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on “too much democracy”, Congress leader P Chidambaram on December 11 tweeted “there is too much bureaucracy.”

"There is too much democracy, laments a senior bureaucrat. There is too much bureaucracy, says an anguished democrat," he said. The tweet followed another one, where Chidambaram said: “The foundation for a new Parliament building was laid on the ruins of a liberal democracy.”

There is too much democracy, laments a senior bureaucrat

There is too much bureaucracy, says an anguished democrat — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) December 10, 2020

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on December 8 it is difficult to carry out tough reforms in India as there is "too much of democracy", and emphasised that more reforms need to be done to make the country competitive.

"Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much democracy...You need political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done. It is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms," Kant said.

Kant's statements came amid the ongoing farmers' protest in Delhi.

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The senior leader was on a roll, going on to tweet a series of posts in Hindi on BJP-led Uttar Pradesh’s new ‘Love Jihad’ laws. He further said the state’s “creativity” deserves “Nobel Prizes for Literature (fiction) and for Peace”.

"UP is the most creative state in law-making and in the application of the law. Who else could have invented a crime called 'love jihad'?" the Congress leader asked in another tweet.

He gave an example of the new law which allows: “for an FIR without a complaint being filed first, an FIR is followed by non-bailable warrant and threat of property seizure, and arrest can be made without an FIR.”

यूपी की रचनात्मकता दो नोबेल पुरस्कारों की हकदार है - साहित्य (कथा) और शांति के लिए। — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) December 11, 2020