Biography Palaniappan Chidambaram
Introductory information
Palaniappan Chidambaram was born on 16 September 1945 in Kanadukathan, India. He is an Indian political leader, former attorney, and India’s Minister of Finance but currently serving as Rajya Sabha’s Member of Parliament. Moreover, Chidambaram served as Home Minister (starting November 2008) for about three-and-a-half years before succeeding Pranab Mukherjee after demitting office to run for the President of India.
Early life
Chidambaram was lucky to be born to a wealthy family; His grandfather, Annamalai Chettiar, was a banker and wealthy merchant from Chettinad. His father (Palaniappa Chettiar) primary business operations were trading, textiles along with plantations around India. Coming from a wealthy family, Chidambaram was able to join recognized learning institutions (like Presidency College and Loyola College, Chennai), earning a number of BSc degrees, including master’s degrees. During his active life, he participated in various job activities with most favoring him since he was a highly qualified person.
Political career
From serving as a member of AICC and Minister in several Ministries to becoming MP
Chidambaram’s political path started as early as 1972 when he served as a member of AICC (All India Congress Committee). His dedication to politics triggered his steady rise within the Congress Party hierarchy, acting as the Youth Congress President in Tamil Nadu from 1973 to 1976. He also served as General Secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee in Tamil Nadu.
In 1984 he decided to run for public office when he was elected as a member of Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament’s lower house) from Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga Constituency.
In September 1985, Chidambaram was made the Union (Indian federal) Deputy Minister of Commerce. From 1985-86 he also served as Union Deputy Minister for Personnel, Pension, and Public Grievances. Moreover, he was appointed as Minister for Internal Security (Ministry of Home Affairs) in October 1986 and held the two offices until the calling of general elections in 1989.
Unluckily, the Indian National Congress lost the 1989 general elections. But later in June 1991, he was inducted for the 3rd time as the 10th Lok Sabha member – Minister of State for Commerce (Independent Charge). He held the post until July 1992, after which he was re-appointed again and served the same office from February 1995 to April 1996. During his service, he made several radical changes in the export-import (EXIM) policy of India.
The dream budget move
After quitting the Congress party in 1996, Chidambaram joined a breakaway group of the Congress members to form Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). And was given the cabinet’s finance portfolio, which led to one of his greatest achievements, “The Dream Budget” in 1997. This was after the 1996 general election when TMC formed a coalition government with some national and regional opposition parties. After the collapse of the coalition government in 1998, Chidambaram was re-appointed to the same position by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh government formed in 2004.
Chidambaram was made the Union Home Minister in November 2008, which followed Shivraj Patil’s resignation as a result of several India terror attacks, including the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
He is not only reputed for efficiency and competency but also widely credited with deploying bold security decisions for the Indian Premier League in 2009. Chidambaram was re-appointed as Union Cabinet Minister for Home Affairs from the Sivaganga constituency in 2009.
Later in September 2014, he was appointed by the Indian National Congress as 1 of 13 senior spokespersons, a seat he handed over to Karti (his son) in 2014, which later didn’t prosper.
Chidambaram was elected as Rajya Sabha MP – the Indian Parliament’s upper house from Maharashtra state.
Personal life and public image
Chidambaram is son to Palaniappa Chettiar and Lakshmi Achi. He has one sister and two brothers. He married Nalini Chidambaram (a daughter to Shri Kailasam, a retired Justice of Supreme Court and Soundra Kailasam, a recognized author and poet). Chidambaram has one son Karti Chidambaram, a graduate from the University of Texas and the University of Cambridge for Bachelor of Business Administration and Masters in Law, respectively.
Career path
Chidambaram chose to focus on his education along with his legal practices, even though he had a chance to help his father in trading, plantations, and textiles works. In 1984, he applied for lawyer position in the Madras High Court but became a senior advocate job. He not only established offices in Chennai and Delhi but also practiced his role in the Supreme Court, along with several India courts.
Failed struggles
In 1969, he tried politics but inclined to the left before joining journalist Narasimhan Ram. Moreover, Chidambaram did experiments during his political career – he left TMC in 2001 and formed his own party called Congress Jananayaka Peravai, but it failed after a short while.
Court cases and controversial allegations
The nation said that he failed to prevent the Mumbai bombings despite the 2008 deployed measures for improving security.
Subramanian Swamy accused Chidambaram of his participation in the 2G spectrum scam (INX Media money laundering case), claiming that his son, Karti Chidambaram was the direct beneficially. In fact, the matter was raised several times by the opposition in Parliament, demanding Chidambaram to resign. Later, it led to his arrest on 21 August 2019 by CBI officers.
Even though the case was handed over by the Supreme Court to the Special CBI Court in order to rule out a judgment, it was forced to dismiss all criminal accusations of Chidambaram on the matter after lacking substantial evidence. After a number of rejected appeals, he was later released on bail.
Chidambaram is linked to financial irregularities associated with Air India. This money laundering activity was said to have taken place during the dispensation of UPA.
A statement given by Chidambaram was recorded under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act). The case is pending.
He was Trustee for both Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Ilakkiya Chintanai – Literary Association in Chennai.
– He had memberships in both the Gymkhana club and the Kodaikanal club.
– During his public service, he delivered lectures in many national as well as international universities.