Weeks after former Union minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar found himself in the middle of a row over his comments on Pakistan, his remarks, this time on China, have again triggered a controversy.
Aiyar, while speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia, referred to the 1962 Indo-China war as an “alleged Chinese invasion”. “In October 1962, the Chinese allegedly invaded India,” Aiyar is heard saying in a video that has gone viral.
When a member in the audience questioned his use of the word “allegedly”, he sought to amend his stance and apologised for having used the word “mistakenly”.
Later, in a brief statement, Aiyar, who had also recounted that his entry into the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was reversed after reports that he, studying in the UK then, was engaged in fund collection for the Chinese making him rush to India to clarify matters, said, “I unreservedly apologise for having mistakenly used the word ‘alleged’ before ‘Chinese invasion’ at the Foreign Correspondents Club this evening.”
The BJP criticised the Congress following another controversial remark by one of its senior leaders, who has often embarrassed his party with outspoken comments about PM Narendra Modi and his views on Pakistan. The BJP demanded that the Congress clarify its “love for the Chinese.”
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said in a post on X said, “Mani Shankar Aiyar, speaking at the FCC, during the launch of a book called Nehru’s First Recruits, refers to the Chinese invasion in 1962 as ‘alleged’. This is a brazen attempt at revisionism. He alleged that Aiyar wanted to “whitewash Chinese invasion”.
Amid the controversy, Congress distanced itself from the senior leader’s remarks. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh pointed out that Aiyar had subsequently apologised ‘unreservedly’ for using the term ‘alleged invasion’ ‘mistakenly,’ and that the party distances itself from the ‘original phraseology’. He pleaded that ‘allowances must be made for his age.’
Ramesh also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving a ‘clean chit’ to the Chinese for their incursions in May 2020. “The outgoing PM, however, gave a clean chit publicly to the Chinese on June 19th 2020, seriously weakening our negotiating position. 2000 sq km of territory including Depsang and Demchok remain out of bounds for Indian troops,” he said in a post on X.
