DMK pulls up Aiyar for 145;off-the-cuff146; remark

The DMK, a key Congress ally in Tamil Nadu, today criticised Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar for his 8216;8216;hasty, off-the-...

The DMK, a key Congress ally in Tamil Nadu, today criticised Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar for his 8216;8216;hasty, off-the-cuff8217;8217; remarks on Veer Savarkar and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

8216;8216;Aiyar8217;s statement that Savarkar and Jinnah contributed to the Partition would hurt the sentiments of the people who respect the two leaders. Such a statement is unacceptable,8217;8217; DMK chief M. Karunanidhi said. Asked about Aiyar8217;s remarks against Savarkar, he said: 8216;8216;Savarkar fought for principles, which he considered right.8217;8217;

He said the statement against Jinnah in particular was unacceptable as those who knew history would understand the circumstances that led to Partition. As for the Congress campaign against Savarkar, he said, he did not approve of 8216;8216;finding fault with the dead8217;8217;. At the same time, he said, he condemned the 8216;8216;uncivilised8217;8217; and 8216;8216;barbaric8217;8217; protests by BJP and Shiv Sena 8212; hitting Aiyar8217;s effigy with slippers.

The BJP, he charged, had disrupted Parliament only 8216;8216;in an attempt to topple the Congress-led UPA Government8217;8217;. However, the Government would be stable for five years, he said.

The DMK leader, who presided over a meeting of allies at his party headquarters here, announced that the allies 8212; Congress, Left, PMK and MDMK 8212; would hold a public meeting in Chennai on August 7 evening to 8216;8216;expose the BJP8217;s fascist attitude of BJP8217;8217;.

All 40 MPs from TN and Pondicherry including Union ministers would meet on August 7 at DMK headquarters here, to discuss the infrastructure projects for the state and formally present their demands to the Centre.

Mani says Savarkar8217;s views not different from Jinnah8217;s
New Delhi:Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who is in the eye of a storm, on Monday said that the views of M.A. Jinnah and Veer Savarkar were not different from each other on the two-nation theory.

Clarifying reports on his speech at a function in Mysore on Sunday, he denied saying that like Jinnah, Savarkar had also advocated division of the country. 8216;8216;I wish to clarify that I had said nothing of the kind. I had only quoted from Savarkar8217;s statement at a press conference in Nagpur on August 15, 1943, where he had said: 8216;I have no quarrel with Jinnah8217;s two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves and it8217;s historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations8217;,8217;8217; Aiyar said in a statement here.

Story continues below this ad

The Minister said he drew 8216;8216;attention to the fact that in this respect the views of Jinnah and Savarkar were not different from each other8217;8217;.