Mani Shankar Aiyar, the motormouth Congress leader notorious for his controversial statements is back with yet another controversial statement. On Wednesday, August 23, the Congress leader alleged that former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was “communal”. Aiyar also described the former Congress leader as the “first BJP PM” of the country.
Aiyar made these remarks during the official launch of his book titled Memoirs Of A Maverick: The First Fifty Years (1941-1991) on Monday, August 21. During the event, Aiyar claimed that he got to know about how ‘communal’ former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao was when he met him during his 44-day-long Ram Rahim Yatra from Rameshwaram to Ayodhya in 1992.
Aiyar claimed that PM Rao had summoned him from Bhubaneshwar to Delhi in 1992. He said that Narasimha Rao had told him that he did not have any objection to his Ram Rahim Yatra, however, he (Aiyar) had gone wrong in his definition of secularism. Aiyar asserted that he was shocked by Rao’s comments and questioned about what was wrong with his definition of secularism. To this, PM Rao said that Aiyar needs to understand that this is a Hindu nation. Aiyar added that he got back to his chair muttering. He told PM Rao that this exactly is what the BJP says, adding that Rao did not answer him and allowed him to return to the yatra.
Speaking to an ABP reporter, Aiyar reiterated his rant against the former Prime Minister saying that he did not face the question of Babri Masjid in accordance with the principles of Congress. “He was only listening to Lal Krishna Advani ji, called in thousands of saints seeking their advice, and then after it all happened, Rao told a Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in Delhi that even kings in ancient India used to consult sages and sadhus and so did I. But saints in ancient times would listen to the Maharaj (King) but in these times they don’t listen”.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Mani Shankar Aiyar has expressed his disdain for former PM Narasimha Rao. Aiyar over the years has on several occasions blamed the former PM for the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.
Back in 2011, Aiyar made similar assertions saying that Narasimha Rao was responsible for the demolition of Babri Masjid as the demolition took place when he was in office.
In 2016, Mani Shankar Aiyar repeated the same old story during the launch of Vinay Sitapati’s biography of Narasimha Rao, titled Half Lion: How Narasimha Rao Transformed India. Aiyar asserted back then that Rao, the then prime minister should have invoked the president’s rule against the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh as Karsevaks were gathering at Ayodhya even when governor Satyanarayan Reddy informed the prime minister five days prior to the demolition of the Babri structure that the law and order situation in the state was satisfactory.
It is interesting to note that, for Mani Shankar Aiyar the former prime minister became ‘communal’ merely because he called India a Hindu country. According to Mani Shankar Aiyar India is a secular country and thus Babri Masjid should have stood at its place irrespective of the fact that the Mosque was constructed after the demolition of a Hindu temple, that too at the birthplace of Lord Rama. No wonder, Aiyar gets more ‘love‘ in Pakistan than in India.
It is also a known fact that despite being a tall leader of the Congress party and former prime minister, the party insulted Rao even in his death. Loathed by Sonia Gandhi, Rao was not even given a state funeral. Sanjay Gandhi, who led dreadful initiatives like forced sterilization during the Emergency, was honoured in Delhi with a state funeral and a samadhi.
PV Narasimha Rao, however, was not deemed deserving enough to have a state funeral and a samadhi in Delhi by the Congress leadership, led by Sonia Gandhi. His body was not even allowed into the Congress headquarters in Delhi. Top Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi didn’t attend the cremation in Hyderabad, which was attended by LK Advani. Sonia Gandhi, it is believed, was ‘upset‘ about the way the investigation of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination had proceeded.
Mani Shankar Aiyar bats for resumption of India-Pakistan bilateral talks
Aiyar during the launch of his book also talked about Pakistan and advocated for the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan. He asserted that an integral part of India’s diplomatic approach should be leveraging the ‘goodwill’ of Pakistani people. He added that every prime minister before Narendra Modi attempted some sort of dialogue with Pakistan.
“But now we are in a freeze and the victims of this freeze are not the army of Pakistan which is still swigging its scotch, it is the people of Pakistan whose relatives in large numbers live in India and many of whom have a desire to visit our country,” Aiyar said.
Aiyar further asserted that the people of Pakistan do not see India as an enemy nation. He went on to say that Pakistani people are India’s ‘biggest asset’. While Aiyar asserts that the Pakistani people do not see India as an enemy nation, history tells otherwise.
It is interesting to note that Aiyar has over the years expressed his love for Pakistan. Back in 2018, Aiyar during his Pakistan visit said that he is happy with Pakistan’s diplomatic approach towards India and upset with India’s policies with regard to Pakistan. He had also blamed India for stopping bilateral dialogue between the two countries. It is worth noting that the Modi government has taken a strict stand against Pakistan’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. In 2016, PM Modi in the context of the Indus Water Treaty had said that “blood and water cannot flow together.”
