‘My Political Career Made, Unmade By Gandhis’, Reveals Congress Veteran Mani Shankar Aiyar

New Delhi: In an interesting revelation, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Sunday that his political career was “made and unmade” by the Gandhi family.

“For 10 years, I was not given an opportunity to meet Sonia Gandhi one-on-one. I was not given an opportunity, except once, of spending any meaningful time with Rahul Gandhi. And I have not spent time with Priyanka except on one occasion, no, two occasions. She comes on the phone to me, so I’m in touch with them,” Aiyar told PTI.

“So, the irony of my life is that my political career was made by the Gandhis and unmade by the Gandhis,” said the former Union minister whose controversial remarks landed him in trouble in the past, even leading to suspension from the grand old party.

“And I take it that this is what happens… I have got used to being out of the party. I am still a member of the party. I’ll never shift, and I will certainly not go to the BJP,” he added.

Aiyar, a former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who switched to politics, recalled an incident when he wished former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Christmas.

“As I was walking out, I said Ma’am, Merry Christmas. And she says, ‘I’m not a Christian.’ Naturally, I was completely taken aback. But I think she does not see herself as a Christian. Like I don’t see myself as belonging to any particular religion. I am a non-believer, and I’m quite ready to say that. But, being a non-believer doesn’t mean I disrespect religions. What it means is that I respect all religions equally,” Aiyar said.

Recalling the political situation in 2012, when Pranab Mukherjee was named India’s President, he put forward some ideas in his forthcoming book ‘A Maverick in Politics’.

“You see, in 2012, we had two disasters taking place: one was that Sonia Gandhi fell very ill, and Dr Manmohan Singh had six bypasses. So, we were crippled at the head of the government and at the head of the party. But there was one man who was still full of energy, full of ideas, had a certain amount of charisma, and could have run either the party or the government or even both. And that was Pranab Mukherjee,” he said.

“So, Pranab Mukherjee says in his own biography, what I had guessed at that time, that he was hoping that he would be made Prime Minister in place of Dr Manmohan Singh and that Dr Manmohan Singh would be given due respect as the President of India, as somebody who had made a huge contribution to the development of our country,” Aiyar said.

“And if that had happened, if Dr Manmohan Singh had become the President and Pranab had become the PM, I still think we would have lost in 2014 (Lok Sabha polls), but not the massive humiliating defeat that we actually had, where we fell to 44 seats,” the Congress veteran remarked.