Politician, Former Finance Minister, Former Rajya Sabha MP and Lawyer.
Birth
P.Chidambaram (as Palaniappan Chidambaram) was born on 16th September 1945 to Kandanur L.Ct. L. Palaniappa Chettiar and Lakshmi Acchi in Sivagangai(Kanadukathan) in TamilNadu. His maternal grandfather Sir Annamalai Chettiar was a merchant and banker. He has one sister and two brothers. His father made business in trade, plantations and textile. But Chidambaram had chosen the law, being away from those businesses.
Personal life
P.Chidambaram married Nalini on 11th December 1968. Nalini Chidambaram is one of the senior lawyers in the Madras High Court. They have a son Karthi Chidambaram. Karthi Chidambaram married Srinidhi Rangarajan and they have a daughter Aditi Nalini Chidambaram. His daughter-in-law Srinidhi is a famous Bharatanatyam dancer and Doctor.
Education
P.Chidambaram completed his schooling in Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School. He got a B.Sc degree from the Madras Law College in 1964. In 1966, he got the LL.B from Madras Law College in Chennai. Later he completed his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1968. He also got the Master’s degree from the Loyola College in Chennai.
Career
He began practicing law in the Madras High Court. Chidambaram became a senior advocate in the year 1984. He had offices in Chennai and Delhi, thus he was a lawyer in the Supreme Court and High Courts of India.
P. Chidambaram Career in Politics
Chidambaram came into politics by joining the Congress Party in 1972. From 1973 to 1976, he was the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Party’s youth wing. Then he became the General Secretary in the State Congress Party for a period of 1976 to 1977. As a union leader of MRF, he got growth in the Congress Party.
For the first time in 1984, she was elected to the LokSabha from the Sivaganga constituency in TamilNadu. In 1985, he was given the name Deputy Commerce Minister in the Central Government led by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. During his tenure, he took actions to manage the tea cost for which he got the criticism from the Sri Lankan Government.
Chidambaram became the Minister in the Commerce department of State in June 1991. He was in this post will July 1992. In February 1995, he again became the Minister of State in Ministry of Commerce. He was in this tenure till April 1996. During his tenure, he made few progressive changes in the export-import (EXIM) policy of India. In 1996, he joined the Tamil Manila Congress party after quitting from the Congress. Then he got the appointment as the Finance Minister in the same year. Next in 1998, for the fifth time, he was elected to the LokSabha.
In 1996, Chidambaram got the finance department. At that time, the coalition Government gave him a big break. The 1997 budget announcement left a great impact in Indian economy. In 2001, he began his own party Congress Jananayaka Peravai after quitting from TMC. He then merged his CongressJananayakaPeravai Party with the original Congress Party in 2004. In the same year, he was elected to the 14th LokSabha and was appointed as Finance Minister when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
Later in 2008, he became the Union Home Minister after then Home Minister Shivraj Patil’s resignation due to Mumbai attacks of 2008. For the seventh time, in 2009,Chidambaram was again elected to the LokSabha. He took a bold decision in preferring elections above the demands of corporate to employ the security for the Indian Premier League in 2009.
On 15th September 2014, P.Chidambaram was appointed as one of the thirteen senior spokespersons by the Indian National Congress. In 2014, he gave up his seat to his son Karti which lead to the defeat of his son in elections. Then in 2016, he was elected to the Upper house of Parliament (RajyaSabha) from the Maharashtra State. He was serving as the M.P from 2016.
Books of P. Chidambaram
He had written many books on politics like Fearless in Opposition: Power and Accountability, Speaking Truth to Power: My Alternative View, Standing Guard: A Year in Opposition, A View from the Outside: Why Good Economics Works for Everyone and Undaunted: Saving the Idea of India.
Awards for P. Chidambaram
In December 2012, he won the Best Administrator in India Award began by K.Karunakaran Foundation. He got this award from then Vice President of India M.Hamid Ansari. In 2013, he got the Business Reformer of the Year Award from the ET Awards.
In other works
P.Chidambaram is the representative of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He is also the member of Ilakkiya Chintanai a Literary Association in Chennai. He holds the membership in the Gymkhana Club and the Kodaikanal Club.
Drawbacks faced by P. Chidambaram
On 7th April 2009, a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh attacked Chidambaram in the press conference that held in Delhi. This was because Jarnail was not satisfied with the Chidambaram’s answer regarding the “clean chit” to Jagdish Tytler issue of 1984. Even though investing more money in security department, Chidambaram got the criticism for the failure of his ministry to avert the 2011 Mumbai attack. He supported the agencies below his ministry against the intelligence failure charge.
In 2006, company under Karti Chidambaram was accused by the politician Dr.Subramanian Swamy, for receiving five-percent share from Aircel Company. Even though Chidambaram and then Government Congress refused the accusation, India Today and The Pioneer stated the record of documents. Those documents tend to prove the delay made by the Chidambaram for approval of the foreign direct Investment.
In 2019, after opening the case of INX media, Chidambaram was sent to the Tihar Jail for 14 days under the Judicial Custody of CBI. In this case, the Delhi High Court suspended the provident bail petitions of Chidambaram on 20th August 2019. After he spent 105 days in prison, he got the bail from the Supreme Court and came out of prison. To offer judgment in this case, the Court will take some time.