Congress distances self from Aiyar's remark; apologist for Pak, says BJP

The Congress on Friday (May 10) distanced itself from senior party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks that India should respect Pakistan so that “they don't drop an atom bomb on us”.

“Indian National Congress dissociates itself completely from and disagrees totally with some remarks made by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar few months back which have been revived today by the BJP in its attempt to deflect attention from Prime Minister Modi's daily goof ups,” Pawan Khera said in a post on X. “Mr Aiyer does not speak for the party in any capacity whatsoever,” he added.

Old remarks, clarifies Aiyar

Reacting to the row, Aiyar noted in a statement that it is obvious from the sweater he is wearing is the video that he made the comments to Chill Pill in the winter several months ago.

“They have been dredged up now as the BJP's election campaign falters. I refuse to play their game. Interested persons may please read the relevant passages in my two books released by Juggernaut last year, 'Memoirs of a Maverick' and 'The Rajiv I Knew',” the Congress leader said.

Earlier, a video of Aiyar had gone viral in which he stated that India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan and not flex its military muscles as it may irk Islamabad into deploying nuclear weapons against New Delhi.

A former diplomat and vocal advocate of normalising India-Pakistan ties, Aiyar said the government can talk tough to Islamabad if it wants to, but if it doesn’t respect the neighbouring country, it may have to pay a heavy price. “They have atom bombs. We have them too, but if a ‘madman’ decides to drop a bomb on Lahore, it won’t take 8 seconds for the radiation to reach Amritsar,” he cautioned.

“If we respect them, they will remain peaceful. But if we snub them, what happens if a ‘madman’ comes up and decides to launch bombs [at India]?” Aiyar asked.

In a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Aiyar said, “In order to become the vishwaguru, no matter how serious our issues with Pakistan are, we have to show that we are working hard to resolve them. But in the last 10 years, there has been no hard work [to this end].”

BJP slams Congress

On the other hand, the BJP on Friday accused the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil, as the ruling party cited comments of Mani Shankar Aiyar to slam it.

Seeking to corner the opposition party in the middle of the high-stakes general elections, BJP fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to attack the Congress.

He said Aiyar wants India to fear Pakistan and give it respect. The "new India" does not fear anyone, he said, claiming that his comments have highlighted the intentions, policies and ideology of the Congress.

"The Congress under Rahul Gandhi has become an apologist and defender of Pakistan and its terrorism," he told reporters. The BJP leader cited recent comments of more Congress leaders to make his point.

The Congress acts, talks and behaves like an apologist for Pakistan's terrorism, Chandrasekhar said.

As the Congress did recently with Sam Pitroda, who was accused of making racist comments, it will distance itself from Aiyar but it is clear that there is a pattern to the remarks made by its leaders, he said.

(With agency inputs)