The Congress on Thursday, 7 December, suspended the primary membership of Mani Shankar Aiyar after the Gandhi family loyalist set off a firestorm by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “neech aadmi” (a vile person), remarks fraught with adverse consequences for the party in poll-bound Gujarat.
“He (Modi) is a ‘neech kism ka aadmi’ (a vile man) who has no ‘sabhyata’ (civility),” said Aiyar, who has often courted controversy with his off-the-cuff remarks.
After the rebuke by the Congress leadership, Aiyar was soon on national television proffering clarification, insisting it was because of his poor understanding of Hindi language that he used the word, and offered an apology.
The Prime Minister, while inaugurating the Ambedkar International Centre on 7 December, had hit out at the Congress, saying parties seeking votes in the name of the architect of the Indian Constitution tried to erase his contribution to nation-building.
Such was Ambedkar’s incredible strength that when years after his demise efforts were made by such people to crush his philosophy and erase his contribution towards nation-building, his ideals could not be wiped out from people’s memory. People are still influenced by his (Ambedkar’s) ideas.PM Narendra Modi
Aiyar had asked Modi, “What is the need for doing dirty politics on such an occasion?”.
Modi, who was in Surat, latched on to Aiyar's comments, saying it was an insult to Gujarat.
Mani Shankar Aiyar said I belong to ‘neech’ caste, I am ‘neech’ (vile), this is an insult to Gujarat.Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also lashed out at Mani Shankar Aiyer for his remark, saying it displays the mindset that “only one elite family” can rule this country.
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
(With inputs from PTI.)
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