Mani Shankar Aiyar is not backing down. The veteran Congress leader has squarely blamed his party’s dismal state on Rahul Gandhi and said Sonia Gandhi does not give him time.
Ayar responded to questions from The Telegraph Online over a series of messages on Monday, speaking about his standing within the Congress, the leadership and the future of the party.
He minced no words.
On Rahul Gandhi
Asked where the Congress was falling short despite initiatives like the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Aiyar said: “I think the Congress is falling short because Rahul is falling short of his great grandfather, his grandfather and his father.”
On Sonia Gandhi
Asked if he had recently met or spoken with Sonia Gandhi or Mallikarjun Kharge and whether he feels sidelined within the party structure, he wrote: “No, not recently. They do not give me any time I ask. Anyone who does not see my marginalisation is blind.”
Gandhi family
Asked if the Congress would perform better without the Nehru-Gandhi family at its helm, Aiyar said: “If the Gandhi family comes under a bus tomorrow, the Congress will disintegrate. No one who does not have the Gandhis in his DNA can or will want to have anyone else in the chair.”
Pinarayi Vijayan
Asked why he chose this moment, months before the Kerala Assembly elections, to publicly express confidence in Pinarayi Vijayan continuing as chief minister, Aiyar said: “Because the account of his record given by two non-political civil servants, principal secretary Mrs Mary Joseph and vice chairman, planning board, V.K. Ramachandran so impressed me that I gave second prize to Pinarayi because I had already given first prize to M.K. Stalin.”
Exodus of senior leaders
Asked why several senior leaders have left the party in recent years, he said: “Because they are time servers.”
Space for dissent in Congress
Asked whether there is space in the Congress for intellectual dissent, Aiyar said: “There used to be when young Jawaharlal went against his father and his Bapu over Dominion status or Poorna Swaraj, Gandhi named JN his successor and a horrified colleague famously intervened to say, ‘But he does not speak in your voice.’ And the Mahatma replied, ‘When I am gone, you will hear me speaking in my voice.’ He then nominated JN to the post of PM. And had Bose, with whom Gandhi had severe differences, lived, I am sure Subhas would have been appointed Rastrapati.
"Those days of dissent as the foundation of the Congress are over,” he added. “Now, if you are not a sycophant and speak your mind, Sonia will call you a ‘loose cannon’ as she described J&K Congress president Saifuddin Soz.”
Rajiv loyalists spell trouble?
Aiyar and Sam Pitroda, both seen as loyalists of the late Rajiv Gandhi, have faced criticism for making comments that have helped the BJP in recent years. Some accuse both of aiding the BJP.
“It is only cretinous Congressmen to find excuses for our Maximum Leader who say this nonsense,” Aiyar wrote.
“What on earth do I want after all that Rajiv gave me? Why on earth should I undermine the Congress when it has opened on me (Sam has escaped this because he has been a dollar millionaire for the last three decades — oops, I mean four).
“I am the son of a widow who began life as an orphan. I don't have money and the current generation of the Gandhis absolutely loves moneyed people because they have not earned a khota paisa in the half century they have been in Mother Earth.”