DNA Edit: Mani mindlessness

While the Congress is preparing to go lock, stock and barrel after the BJP in the forthcoming assembly polls, its former MP, Mani Shankar Aiyar, seems bent on damaging the party’s electoral prospects.

Aiyar, who was recently suspended from the Congress over his ‘neech’ remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has caused a fresh round of embarrassment by saying that while most political parties in Pakistan want cordial relations with India, Indian politicians are opposed to the idea as they are still caught up in the 1947 situation.

No wonder, his senior party colleague Hanumantha Rao wants him expelled from the party. Though an erudite man, Aiyar seems to be losing his grip on reality. At a time when cross-border terrorist attacks targeting army camps in J&K have triggered nationwide outrage, Aiyar advocating peace with a rogue neighbour and criticising India for carrying the baggage of history sound ludicrous.

Peace and cordial relations with Pakistan’s political and military establishments are virtually impossible since both these entities thrive on India-baiting. It is one thing to deliver a speech at the Karachi literature festival to rousing applause by writers and intellectuals, and quite another to find oneself in the midst of heavy firing from fidayeens.

Understandably, the Congress has distanced itself from his comments. Its leadership knows how his words can backfire at a time when the party is trying to rise from the ashes. Time and again India’s peace overtures to Islamabad have been met with attacks on civilians and army camps by terrorists who draw strength from the country’s army and intelligence units.

Aiyar’s feeble attempt to score brownie points in the neighbouring country is fraught with repercussions for the Congress.