NEW DELHI:
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday ignited yet another political row by saying that the “Chinese allegedly invaded India” in October 1962. The BJP slammed the controversial remark, saying it was “a brazen attempt at revisionism”.
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 can be heard saying in a video that has now gone viral. When someone from the audience questioned his use of the word “allegedly”, he sought to amend his stance and apologised for having used the word “mistakenly”.
In a brief statement later, Aiyar said, “I unreservedly apologise for having mistakenly used the word ‘alleged’ before ‘Chinese invasion’ at the Foreign Correspondents Club this evening.”
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted on Tuesday night, “Allowances must be made for his age,” adding that Congress has “distanced itself from his original phraseology”.
Aiyar’s choice of words, however, raised eyebrows and drew sharp rebukes from various quarters.
Slamming Aiyar’s controversial remark as “a brazen attempt at revisionism”, the BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “Nehru gave up India’s claim on permanent seat at the UNSC in favour of the Chinese, Rahul Gandhi signed a secret MoU, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation accepted funds from the Chinese Embassy and published reports recommending market access for Chinese companies, based on them, Sonia Gandhi’s UPA opened up Indian market for Chinese goods, hurting MSMEs and now Congress leader Aiyar wants to whitewash the Chinese invasion, post which the Chinese have been in illegal occupation of 38,000 sq km of Indian territory.”
Aiyar’s latest remark adds to a series of controversial statements he has made in the recent past.
Earlier this month, the veteran Congress leader triggered a massive row after he called on India to respect Pakistan as they have atom bomb power that they may use against us.
Attacking the Centre for not holding a dialogue with Pakistan for the last 10 years, he said if the government doesn’t respect the neighbouring country, it may have to pay a heavy price.
Prime Minister Modi slammed Aiyar for the statement and said “time and again, the Congress has tried to scare its own country”.
“They talk about Pakistan’s bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they don’t know how to keep it and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality,” he said.
The Congress distanced itself from Aiyar’s remarks, stating that they did not reflect the party’s stance.
