There were only three occasions when India was deeply polarised -- 1947 partition, 1992 after Babri Masjid demolition and 2015, one of the most polarised years, he said.
"2014 was a year of acrimony and I thought 2015 will be a year of acronyms but at the end of 2015 it is a most polarised year. Today the year has turned out to be deeply polarised. How polarised the Indian society has become.
Chidambaram was speaking after the release of his book "Standing Guard--A year in Opposition", a compilation of his Sunday columns published in the Indian Express in 2015.
The function was attended among others by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Ministers Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor, former Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, CPM leaders Sitaram Yechury and T K Rangarajan and leading lawyers.
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Chidambaram said that free speech was being questioned
now and not many were willing to speak up.
He said the narrative still excludes poor, the downtrodden and the under privileged. He said being in opposition was also a privilege like the ruling party occupies the ruling space given by the people.
Quoting from one of Saint Thiruvalluar's couplets, the former minister said that a king without a critic will fall even without an enemy.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he had a good working relationship with Chidambaram for all of his six year tenure and disappointed that some of things they set out to do could not be completed. That included removal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.
In his remarks, Chidambaram said when one is in the government there is an apprehension in doing something that one may fail.
Referring to Omar's regret that relations between rival parties have touched so low that civilised contact was not possible between each other, Chidambaram said that there was a time when Jawaharlal Nehru had taken R K Shanmugam Chetty, John Mathai and Hindu Mahasabha leader S P Mukherjee into his cabinet seeking talent from outside. But he cannot think of such a situation in the years to come.
"It is a flawed bill and should not be passed in its present form," he said adding even the Chief Economic Advisor has acknowledged that there are faults.
JD (U) MP Pawan Verma, who was also on the panel, said he did not agree with Chidambaram who has written in one of his columns that defeat in Bihar assembly elections will have a sobering effect on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
He said he thought they (PM and BJP) will pause and pull back in case of defeat but now he felt that they would not give up tendencies to polarise on hyper-nationalism and communal issues till the next elections.