Mani Shankar Aiyar, once an influential figure in the Congress Party, is back in prominence once again. His primary membership has been officially restored by the party’s central disciplinary committee, as validated by the party’s incumbent President, Rahul Gandhi.
To quote the party’s General Secretary in charge of organization Ashok Gehlot press statement, “Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the recommendations of the central disciplinary committee of AICC for revocation of suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the primary membership of the Congress party with immediate effect.”
For those unaware, Mani Shankar Aiyar was suspended from the primary membership of the party last year for his insulting remarks towards PM Modi, when he addressed him as a ‘neech aadmi’ in a direct reference to his caste roots while campaigning for the Gujarat assembly elections in 2007. Following a ultimatum to apologize by party president Rahul Gandhi, which fell on deaf ears, Mani Shankar Aiyar was officially stripped from his primary party membership.
However, this was not his first offence, for Mani Shankar Aiyar’s motor mouth skills are well notorious all around the world. Never the one to hesitate in speaking his heart out, even if it causes a major embarrassment worldwide.
As Sports Minister, his tenure is notorious for having thrown away the chance to host Incheon Asian Games 2014, since his remarks about using the facilities and infrastructure for socialist policies instead of hosting major events cut a sorry figure and forced the organizers of the Games to think otherwise, leading to New Delhi losing the hosting rights to Incheon.
However, his enmity with PM Modi is what makes him a darling (in a strange way) of the nationalists, which is why he is also sarcastically referred to as one of the BJP’s star campaigners. In the runup to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it was Mani Shankar Aiyar who mocked PM Modi’s background as a tea seller, dismissing the possibility of BJP winning the elections. We all know what happened next. PM Modi made tea seller his identity and went on to use it in every rally. He became a symbol of the triumph of a common hard working against the elitist snobs.
Even after a resounding defeat, Mani Shankar Aiyar didn’t stop with his antics. Months before he atrociously justified the Paris terror attacks in 2015, Mani Shankar Aiyar came in news for all the wrong reasons. In an interview to the Dawn News, Mr. Aiyar labeled Modi as the ‘root cause’ of the enmity between India and Pakistan, and that it was necessary to oust him from power, in order to initiate peace talks between India and Pakistan. The casteist slur on Narendra Modi during the Gujarat election campaigns was only the final nail in his coffin as he was suspended later.
As his primary membership is restored, it seems without doubt that Congress has struck the axe on their feet once again. On a lighter note, this is nothing less than a golden opportunity for BJP to start their 2019 campaign on a bright note. Let’s see who makes the move first.