Delhi: P Chidamabaram has returned completely from his Tihar ordeal, if the tongue-lashing the man gave the incumbent government is anything to go by. The financial stalwart used facts to flay the BJP government for its economic 'failings'.

The man, who further went to flay the government with data, also had an earful for the finance minister over the recently presented budget. Calling the BJP government incompetent, P Chidambaram almost called Modi a quack, likening him to a doctor who "failed to diagnose and treat his patient". The veteran had no kindness for the ruling government and went on to comment, "The least the doctor can do is to say...I am sorry. We made mistake, will Dr. Manmohan Singh come and advise us," he said on the floor of the House on Monday, much to the glee of his partymen.

What our founding fathers did was to build a foundation of citizenship that will be based on the Constitution, rather than a citizenship based on language, race, religion, territory or culture: Shri @PChidambaram_IN at @SBFIndia pic.twitter.com/56HWWN4JFC

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 9, 2020

Chidambaram, who has one of the most effective Congress budgets to his name, had no kindness for Nirmala Sitaraman. The 160-minute budget speech "managed to not speak about the economy or its management," noted Chidambaram, and pointed out that she made no reference to the Economic Survey nor picked up a single idea from it.

He charged the government with burying reports such as the labour survey that put unemployment at 45 -year high of 6.1% at the end of 2017-18. Rising unemployment and falling consumption were making India poorer. Also, consumer expenditure has fallen to 3.7% between 2011-12 and 2017-18. The economy was investment-starved, said the former minister, adding, "Fear and uncertainty prevail in the country," he added. Chidambaram alleged that instead of putting money in the hands of people, the Modi government has "put money in hands of 200 corporates" by way of corporate tax.

Food inflation was at 12.2%. Bank credit is growing 8% with non-food credit rising by 7-8% and credit to the industry by just 2.7%. Credit to agriculture has declined from 18.3% to 5.3% and that for MSMEs from 6.7% to 1.6%. P Chidambaram said the government is facing a shortfall in all forms of taxes - ₹1.56 lakh crore on corporate tax, ₹10,000 crores on personal income tax, ₹30,000 crores on customs, ₹52,000 crores on excise and ₹51,000 crores on GST.