Guj election not about Modi the individual but promised 'achhe din': Chidambaram

New Delhi, Nov 28: Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign being "about himself, his past and the alleged disdain of Gujarat and Gujaratis", senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the Assembly polls in the state were not about Mr Modi, the individual, but about the promised 'achhe din' that has not come in 42 months.

In a series of tweets, Mr Chidambaram said in his campaign rallies in Gujarat, the Prime Minister had avoided mention on issues like joblessness, lack of investment, collapse of SMEs, stagnant exports and price rise.
'Mr Modi's campaign is about himself, his past and the alleged disdain of Gujarat and Gujaratis. Has he forgotten he is Prime Minister of India?
'Why does PM not talk about joblessness, lack of investment, collapse of SMEs, stagnant exports and price rise? Because he has no answers to the hard reality. The Gujarat election is not about Mr Modi, the individual.
It is about the promised achhe din that has not come in 42 months,' Mr Chidambaram said.
He said Mr Modi had forgotten that Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian and the son of Gujarat.
'Mr Modi has forgotten that Gandhiji was an Indian and son of Gujarat; Gandhiji was, and is, revered as 
Father of the Nation; and Gandhiji's chosen instrument to lead the freedom struggle was the Congress party.
PM and BJP may now desperately embrace Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, but the redoubtable Sardar had rejected the BJP's parent RSS and its divisive ideology,' Mr Chidambaram said.
The comments by Mr Chidambaram came a day after the Prime Minister, in a series of public rallies in Gujarat, attacked the Congress, saying that it was "disconnected from the aspirations of people of India and involved only in misleading people and creating an atmosphere of pessimism".
Describing the Gujarat assembly polls as a contest between development and dynastic politics, Mr Modi said Congress had never liked Gujarat and liked to see it lag behind others.
"Gujarat is my Atma, Bharat is my Parmatma. This land of Gujarat has cared for me, Gujarat has given me strength," he said. UNI