Gujaratis Not Pleased With Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘Neech’ Remark

The voters in Gujarat say Aiyar’s comment was politically incorrect, and hurt the sentiments of the people.
Meghnad Bose
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Congress Leader Mani Shankar Aiyar
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(Photo: Reuters)
Congress Leader Mani Shankar Aiyar
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Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘neech’ remark for Narendra Modi created a political debate across the nation. While the Congress suspended Aiyar and made him apologise for disrespecting the Prime Minister, the people of Gujarat were not very pleased.

Speaking to The Quint, the voters of Gujarat claimed that the comment made by Aiyar was not just politically incorrect, but also hurt the sentiments of the people of the state.

Congress will lose a minimum of 20 seats because it was a pathetic comment. You can target someone on political issues but they must avoid personal comments like these that hurt someone’s self-respect and increase public anger against you.
Voter in Ahmedabad
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While some were personally offended by the comment, others claimed that they did not look too much into the regular political banter.

This is all politics. Someone says one thing and the other says something else. This keeps happening.
Voter in Ahmedabad

Some voters said most people decide who they want to vote for based on their performance and personal preference much before the elections. So, such statements may not have an impact on the vote bank of either the Congress or the BJP.

But others believe that the Congress has shot themselves on the foot and may lose the hard-earned public support in Gujarat through Aiyar’s comment.

He is the Prime Minister and he is working for the development for our country and we must support him instead of saying that he is ‘<i>neech</i>’. This will have an impact on Congress 110 percent.&nbsp;
Voter in Ahmedabad

On the BJP front too, controversial remarks are but the name of the game. From Yogi Adityanath boasting about the demolition of the Babri Masjid at a rally in Amreli to BJP MP Anurag Thakur asking if the crowd was getting impatient for a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya – the BJP seems to have made a concerted shift from vikas to Hindutva.

Is this going to resonate with the people of Gujarat?

Video Producer: Anmol Saini
Video Editor: Vivek Gupta

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Published: 09 Dec 2017,09:53 AM IST

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