On Wednesday the Bharatiya Janata Party latched on to veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remarks on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to attack the Congress. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared an excerpt of Aiyar’s interview on X, and said: “Let the veil be stripped”.
The Congress leader can be seen saying in the video that Rajiv Gandhi struggled academically and many questioned his competency to become the Prime Minister. Aiyar said, “When Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, I thought, how could a person who was an airline pilot and had failed twice become the Prime Minister? I studied with him at Cambridge, where he had failed’. He said, ‘Failing at Cambridge University is very difficult because the university tries to ensure that everyone at least passes. But despite that, Rajiv Gandhi failed’.
He added, “After that, he went to Imperial College in London, and he failed there as well. Then I thought, how can such a person become the Prime Minister of the country”?
Meanwhile, reacting to the remarks, Congress termed Aiyar as a frustrated individual and claimed that Rajiv Gandhi gave the country a modern outlook.
Congress leader Harish Rawat said, “I don’t want to comment on someone who is frustrated individual. I knew Rajiv Gandhi, who gave the country a modern outlook. He took concrete steps for the liberalization of the economy as well’.
He further added, ‘It is unfortunate that a section of the party did not stand with him, or else the country’s history would have been something else. His speeches as LoP still guide leaders’.
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