NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday latched on to veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar‘s remarks on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to attack the Congress.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared an excerpt of Aiyar’s interview on X, and said: “Let the veil be stripped”.
In the video, the Congress leader said that Rajiv Gandhi struggled academically and many questioned his competency to become the Prime Minister.
“When Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, I thought, how could a person who was an airline pilot and had failed twice become the Prime Minister? I studied with him at Cambridge, where he had failed. Failing at Cambridge University is very difficult because the university tries to ensure that everyone at least passes. But despite that, Rajiv Gandhi failed,” Aiyar said.
“After that, he went to Imperial College in London, and he failed there as well. Then I thought, how can such a person become the Prime Minister of the country?” he added.
Meanwhile, reacting to the remarks, Congress termed Aiyar as a frustrated individual and claimed that Rajiv Gandhi gave the country a modern outlook
“I don’t want to comment on someone who is frustrated individual. I knew Rajiv Gandhi, who gave the country a modern outlook. He took concrete steps for the liberalisation of the economy as well,” Congress leader Harish Rawat said.
“It is unfortunate that a section of the party (Congress) did not stand with him, or else the country’s history would have been something else. His speeches as LoP still guide leaders.” he added.
This comes after Aiyar had claimed that his career was both made and unmade by the Gandhis.
During an interview with PTI, he mentioned that aside from one occasion, he had limited meaningful interactions with Rahul Gandhi, and he had only spent time with Priyanka Gandhi on two occasions.
“For 10 years, I was not given an opportunity to meet Sonia Gandhi one-on-one. I was not given an opportunity, except once, of spending any meaningful time with Rahul Gandhi. And I have not spent time with Priyanka except on one occasion, no, two occasions. She comes on the phone to me, so I’m in touch with them. So, the irony of my life is that my political career was made by the Gandhis and unmade by the Gandhis,” he told PTI.
Aiyar was a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi when he entered politics. His inner circle also included his cousin Arun Nehru, friend Arun Singh and Sam Pitroda.
This is not the first time that Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remarks have led to controversy.
Aiyar triggered a row when he said that the Chinese in 1962 “allegedly invaded India”.
In 2017, during campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections, Aiyar had stoked a major controversy and caused considerable damage to the electoral prospects of the grand old party after he used objectionable words against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress reacted by suspending Aiyar from the party. Two years later in 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Aiyar defiantly recalled his remarks against Modi and tried to justify it.
Earlier in 2014, Aiyar had made a chaiwala jibe at Narendra Modi, who was then the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.