Chidambaram slams Jaitley for ignoring 108 economists appeal on statistical data

If a person disagreeing with the government is a "compulsive contrarian", can someone who always agrees with it be called "his master's voice", senior Congress leader P Chidambaram asked Wednesday, hitting back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The finance minister has slammed 108 economists and social scientists as "compulsive contrarians" for raising concern over "political interference" to influence statistical data.

In his blog published on Tuesday, Jaitley had said these "compulsive contrarians" have repeatedly signed memorandums of what he said was manufactured political issues against the present government. Responding to Jaitley, Chidambaram tweeted: "According to Mr Jaitley, one who disagrees with the government is a 'compulsive contrarian'. Can we then say that anyone who always agrees with the government is 'His Master's Voice'?"

As many as 108 economists and social scientists, including Jean Dreze (Allahabad University), Emily Breza (Harvard University), Satish Deshpande (Delhi University), Esther Duflo (MIT, US) and Jayati Ghosh (JNU), had made an appeal last week, expressing their concern over "political interference" in influencing statistical data in India.