A dalit will be PM within 40 years

CHIDAMBARAM: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has expressed hope that India would have a dalit Prime Minister within the next 40 years.“I hope that a Dalit would become the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in future. I firmly believe that a Dalit will be the PM within the next 40 years,” he said at an event organised to celebrate Dr B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on Saturday.Maintaining that India could not forge ahead in the path of growth by sidelining Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), he listed out examples of banks not loosening up while granting loans to dalits.“Black people forming 20 per cent of the total US population faced discrimination in the USA. After a 40-year struggle, now Barack Obama has come to power.” He urged opposition parties to extend their cooperation to run the government that was elected by the people.On internal security, Chidambaram said that the UPA II regime had seen only three attacks — Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. Intelligence agencies were modernised to trace out terrorists and take stringent action against them. Explaining the necessity to hike petrol price, he said, “There was no other option for us. During the BJP regime, international price of crude oil was $32 per barrel. Now, the price is around $112.”