Lodged in Tihar jail since September 5, former Union minister P Chidambaram was visited by his son on his birthday and greeted by prison officials and some inmates. Jail officials said he had not made any special demands for the day.

At the Tihar jail, he received wishes from the staff of jail number seven, and some inmates also greeted him when he stepped out of his cell, the sources said. Jail officials usually wish inmates on their birthday and even Chidambaram was wished accordingly, they said.  

Karti, who visits Chidambaram often in jail, posted online an emotional letter to his father and took swipes at the BJP government.

"You are 74 years old and no 56!!! can stop you,"  Karti wrote to his father as he wished him on his birthday.

"...Your birthday is not the same without you with us. We miss you, and your absence tugs at our hearts, and we wish you were back home to cut the cake with us. But of course, in today's day and age, turning 74 is nothing compared to turning 100 days old," Karti said in the letter.

The BJP government, he said, celebrates its "unpropitious second innings" and couldn't have possibly found a better time to silence his father.

Karti who is operating jailed father's Twitter account also posted messages on behalf of him. "I have asked my family to tweet on my behalf the following: "My family have brought me greetings from friends, party colleagues and well-wishers. I am reminded that I am 74 years old. Indeed I am, but at heart I feel 74 years young. Thank you all, my spirits have been lifted higher," Chidambaram said on Twitter.

In another tweet, he said his thoughts today are about the country's economy.                "... Just one statistic tells the story. Export growth in August was -6.05%. No country has achieved GDP growth of 8% without exports growing at 20% a year," he said. "May God bless this country," he added.