Veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has once again found himself embroiled in controversy, this time for his remarks praising the people of Pakistan, which he termed as India’s ‘biggest asset’. Aiyar’s comments, made during an event in Lahore, sparked a fresh debate as he lauded the warmth and hospitality he experienced during his visits to Pakistan.
Addressing an audience at the Faiz Festival in Lahore, Aiyar reminisced about his time as a consul general in Karachi, highlighting the kindness and generosity shown to him and his wife by the Pakistani people. He emphasized the need for goodwill between India and Pakistan, criticizing the lack of dialogue between the two countries under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Aiyar’s call for opening communication channels and engaging in dialogue with Pakistan contradicts India’s official stance, which maintains that talks cannot proceed in the presence of cross-border terrorism. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterated India’s position, stating that Pakistan’s use of terrorism as a tool to compel India to negotiate has been rendered ineffective by India’s refusal to engage under such conditions.
Despite the Indian government’s firm stance against talks under the shadow of terrorism, Aiyar’s advocacy for dialogue and his appreciation for the Pakistani people’s warmth serve as a reminder of the complex dynamics between the two neighboring countries. Referring to his friend, former envoy Satindar Kumar Lambah, the Congress leader said he had written a book about how he served for better bilateral ties between the bitter neighbours under six different prime ministers during his career as a diplomat. ”There were five Indian high commissioners who served in the Congress government and the BJP government in Islamabad and all five of them unanimously agreed that whatever are our differences, we must engage with Pakistan and the biggest mistake that we made in the last 10 years was the refusing dialogue. We have the courage to conduct surgical strikes against you but we don’t have the courage to sit across the table and talk,” Aiyar said at the event.
”The Gandhi-Nehru answer to the Islamic republic was that they would not become a republic based on religion but a republic based on all religions. But their philosophy that lasted for 65 years was overthrown in 2014 and for the next five years we are going to have the same mindset in Delhi.” But it’s a minority opinion because 63 per cent of Indians have never voted for BJP,” as said by aiyar at the event.
He added that he considered it ‘silly’ to expect that the ‘Hindutva establishment’ in India would want to talk to Pakistan. The contrasting viewpoints within India’s political landscape reflect the ongoing debate over how to navigate relations with Pakistan amidst longstanding tensions and security concerns.
