Did you know Chidambaram and Game of Thrones' Little Finger have a lot in common?

It’s only a mere co incidence that the Season 4 of Game of Thrones aired yesterday, and the Lok Sabha Elections in India kicked off today. But there’s no doubt that both of them have been much-awaited and highly-watched.

Since there’s so much interest in both, we decided to combine both happenings, in particular the similarities between some key characters in the fictional Game of Thrones and real-life Indian politics.

Lets start with our current finance minister. We’re sure we’re not the only ones who think P Chidambaram strangely resembles the ‘Master of Coins’,the treasurer of theSeven Kingdoms under KingRobert Baratheon.

Yesterday, Scoop Whoop, noted in this article that some of our Indian politicians resemble Game of Thrones characters. Scoop Whoop’s list also included ‘Little finger’ drawing parallels with Chidambaram. And yes, we agree with that assessment. Chidambaram is uncannily like Little Finger.

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Firstbiz decided to list out five five similarities between our finance minister and the Seven Kingdoms’ finance minister. Here they are:

1. He’s a sweet-talker: Sharp and witty, Little Finger has always been the guy who gets through every storm (real and metaphorical) with his sweet words. Petyr Baelish wins the trust of Eddard Stark in the Season 1 only to remind him later, while holding a knife to his throat, “I did warn you not to trust me.” Little Finger pleases everyone because he uses his words carefully.

Likewise, our Finance Minister has been one of the best speakers of the party. He is one of those people you will enjoy listening to, be it a boring press conference or a long budget speech. He’s verbally suave and extremely articulate. Doesn’t matter what the topic is, Chidambaram is always an engaging speaker.

2. He’s ambitious: There is no doubt that Little Finger is one of the most ambitious characters in the Game of Thrones. Baelish is rightly called the self-made man: even though he has no royal blood, he rises to one of the most powerful men in the kingdom.

Our Finance Minister, too, does not hail from the Gandhi family, which is often described as the first family in our country.Yet, while deciding on Congress’ PM candidate, Chidambaram’s name has often cropped up. Although he has denied his ambitions to become the prime minister of the country, we can’t really be sure, can we?

3. He holds the strings to the kings purses, tactfully: “When The Queen proclaims one King and the King’s Hand proclaims another, whose peace do the Goldcloaks protect? Who do they follow? The man who pays them,” says Baelish in Season 1, Episode 7. Yup, you said it, Baelish. The man knew how to handle the Westeros’ economy even when it was in a shambles. (Although later, we find out he was engaging in some financial finagling for his own benefit). Nevertheless, he ensured the king’s debts were paid and put the king’s gold to work. He bought grain when it was plentiful and sold bread when it was scarce – There’s no denying that he is a master at the art of business.

In Chidambaram’s case, he is again, ’the man who pays the Kings and the Queens of our time.’ He is the one who holds the string to the king’s purse, but we can’t say whether it was tactful or not. However, if recent economic data is to be considered, India’s economy has improved from the last year.

4. He’s the smartest guy in the kingdom: While everyone else thinks Baelish is not very powerful, and can’t do much, in reality, it’s just the opposite. The Master of Coin is indeed the smartest guy in the King’s Landing. Although we are led to believe that Tyrion Lannister is sharper that most in the Lannister family, even he’s been stumped when it comes to discovering what Little Finger is really up to.

Similarly, our finance minister can definitely be called as one of the smartest politicians in the UPA government. He is calm and unlike other Congress politicians, you will never find him wading into a fight or a ‘foot-in-mouth’ situation. Recently, when the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi took a dig at Chidambaram saying that his Harvard education is useless, Chidambaram responded in his budget speech , “My mother and Harvard taught me the value of hard work.“There was no fight, just a smart (and acerbic) response. Both Baelish and Chidambaram know how to play the political game without antagonising people left, right and centre.

5. He played a part in causing the fiscal deficit?While it is suggested in the show that Robert Baratheon’s extravagance is responsible for the kingdom’s economic downfall, many in Westeros believe that Little Finger may have been the one who wrecked the kingdom’s finances. The book suggests the theory is, in fact, true.

The second season of GoT, in fact, explains that Little Finger funded the realm during Robert’s reign by taking out enormous loans. The book tells us that Little-finger borrowed from the Lannisters, the Tyrells and the Iron Bank among other sources.

In Chidambaram’s case, he is not the sole person responsible for our country’s fiscal deficit, but he has to partly bear the blame. Fiscal deficit has been one of the major problems of our economy. Last year, the current account deficit was$88 billion. Of course, it has come down since then, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of our troubles.

India’s fiscal deficit in the first eleven months of the 2013/14 financial year touched 5.99 trillion rupees ($100.03 billion), or 114.3 percent of the full year target. A Firstbiz article earlier noted how Chidambaram’s financial jugglery will only make India’s slowdown worse. The FM promised to contain the deficit within 4.8 percent of GDP this year, but that is little more than financial fudging. The Firstbiz report noted that Chidambaram will surely achieve the target, but in reality he will be hiding the deficit elsewhere. And making the economy’s slowdown worse in the process. Sounds like Baelish once again, doesn’t he?