Mani Shankar Aiyar triggers another row with China remark; Cong distances itself

The BJP came down heavily on the comments, calling it a “brazen attempt at revisionism”.

New Delhi | Updated: May 29, 2024 12:13 PM IST

3 min read

Speaking at the FCC, Aiyar stated, "In October 1962, the Chinese allegedly invaded India." (File Photo)

Weeks after former Union minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s found himself in the middle of a row over his comments on Pakistan, his remarks, this time on China, have again triggered a controversy.

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 is heard saying in a video that has gone viral. When a member in the audience questioned his use of the word “allegedly”, he sought to amend his stance and apologised for having used the word “mistakenly”.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came down heavily on the comments, calling it a “brazen attempt at revisionism”. BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya alleged that Aiyar wanted to “whitewash Chinese invasion”.

“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,” he wrote.

“What explains Congress’ love for the Chinese?” he added.

However, the Congress was quick to distance itself from the comments, with General Secretary Jairam Ramesh saying: “Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar has subequently apologised unreservedly for using the term “alleged invasion” mistakenkly. Allowances must be made for his age. The INC distances itself from his original phraseology.”

He added: “The Chinese invasion of India that began on October 20 1962 was for REAL. So too were the Chinese incursions in Ladakh in early May 2020 in which 20 of our soldiers were martyred and the status quo disturbed.”

He also pointed out, tagging a clip shared by Congress in-charge of research and monitoring Amitabh Dubey, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself denied Chinese invasion into India back in 2020. “The outgoing PM, however, gave a clean chit publicly to the Chinese on June 19th 2020, seriously weakening our negotiating position. 2000 sq km of territory including Depsang and Demchok remain out of bounds for Indian troops,” he wrote on social media platform X.

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