Congress veteran and former finance minister P. Chidambaram has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the incendiary election campaign in Delhi, saying the rhetoric reminds one of Germany in the 1930s.

By drawing a parallel with the Nazi-era Germany, the Congress leader has tried to underscore the gravity of the utterances of BJP leaders in the Delhi election campaign.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said: “As every day passes, the rhetoric of the BJP reminds one of Germany in the 1930s. The language used by Minister Anurag Thakur, BJP MP Parvesh Verma, BJP State President Dilip Ghosh and BJP Karnataka Minister CT Ravi is appalling.”

He added: “It seems that, faced with imminent defeat in the Delhi elections, the BJP leaders have bid goodbye to civilised political discourse. Why are the Prime Minister and the BJP president not admonishing these leaders?”

Chidambaram added: “Since the Prime Minister and his ministers seem cut off from reality, here are three things they can speak about in the Delhi elections: 1. CPI (Consumer Price Index) has increased from 2 per cent in Jan 2019 to 7.35 per cent in Dec 2019. People want to hear facts about the economy, not abuse and rhetoric. People want to know why ‘achchhe din’ has not arrived after six years. 2. Tax revenues will fall short of budget estimates by Rs 2.5 lakh crore in 2019-20. 3. There will be sharp expenditure cuts in programmes meant for SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women & children.”

Rahul Gandhi also tweeted: “Modi & his dream team of economic advisors have literally turned the economy around. Earlier: GDP: 7.5% Inflation: 3.5%. Now: GDP: 3.5% Inflation: 7.5% The Prime Minister & Finance Minister have absolutely no idea what to do next.”