Narendra Modi today dug up a November 2015 TV flub by Mani Shankar Aiyar to whiplash the Congress veteran who called the prime minister ‘neech kisam ki admi’.
During a panel discussion on Pakistan news channel Duniya TV in 2015, Aiyar had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to be removed if talks between the two nations have to resume. Modi today raked it up saying Aiyar asked Pakistanis to 'remove' him from the way of India-Pakistan peace.
When the anchor of Duniya TV asked what is to be done to end the stalemate in the relations between the two nations, Aiyar responded, “The first and the foremost thing is to remove Modi. Only then can the talks move forward. We have to wait for four more years. They (panelists) are all optimist and that we can move forward when Modi sahab is there, but I don’t think so.”
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He further said, “Bring us (the Congress) back to power and remove them. There is no other way (to better the relations). We will remove them, but till then you (Pakistan) have to wait.”
Congress had then denied that Aiyar made such a statement.
'Mani Shankar Aiyar told people when he visited Pakistan- remove Modi from the way and then see what happens to India-Pakistan peace. What did he mean by removing me from the way? And what is my crime? That I have blessings of the people?,' Modi said in a rally today.
Aiyar, who was suspended by the Congress Party on Thursday for calling the PM a 'neech kisam ka isaan' (a low-level human) was accused by the BJP for making a 'deliberate casteist remark'. Finance Minister had called his suspension a 'strategy', adding that 'people should see through the game'.
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Aiyar ‘neech’ remark was in response to the PM's speech at the inauguration of Ambedkar International Centre where he took a dig at Rahul Gandhi's comment on being a Shiva devotee and said some parties talked more of Baba Bhole (Lord Shiva) than Babasaheb.
With just a day left for the first phase of the Gujarat elections, Aiyar's comment on Modi can prove fatal to the party's prospects there. Would-be Congress President Rahul Gandhi's suspended him from the primary membership of the party after he had initially asked him to apologise.
Aiyar apologised again on Friday, this time to the Congress party, saying he is ready to 'accept any punishment' if any damage has been done to the party.
"If any damage has been done to Congress because of what I said or did then I am saddened by it. I had no such intention. I am ready to accept any punishment that the Congress party wants to give me," he said today.
"The BJP and PM routinely use filthy language to attack the Congress party. The Congress has a different culture and heritage. I do not appreciate the tone and language used by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer to address the PM. Both the Congress and I expect him to apologise for what he said," Gandhi tweeted.
"I meant low level when I said neech, I think in English when I speak in Hindi as Hindi is not my mother tongue. So if it has some other meaning then I apologise," he said.
