New Delhi: Representing the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu, veteran Congress Party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar one know for always speaking his mind.
He admits he can be acerbic and has no qualms about rubbing his party the wrong way if he finds it deviating from its policies concerning the common man. A man of clear vision, Aiyar can be both witty and venomous at the same time.
He speaks to Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
GULF NEWS (GN): Will you be contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Mayiladutharai constituency in Tamil Nadu?
MANI SHANKAR AIYAR (MSA): I very much want to. But it all depends on whether I am given the ticket. I understand that the announcement is likely to be made in the next couple of days.
GN: In an interview you’ve said that you are being “deliberately” kept out of everything in the Congress. Seems strange, since you were always considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family. So, what’s gone wrong with the party?
MSA: I don’t think my being kept on the fringes means there is anything wrong with the party, but what it means is there’s something wrong with me. I think they have discovered that I am not a particularly useful political asset. And in any case, perhaps the time for my generation is either over or it’s being phased out.
GN: Do you think there’s a Narendra Modi wave in the country?
MSA: I don’t think there is any such wave.
GN: Since the BJP is not raising the issue of Ram temple this time, you think it could be a hidden ploy to keep quiet on the issue to come into power?
MSA: So long as they espouse the philosophy of Hindutva (notion of being Hindu), I have no doubt that this issue is very much on their agenda. They are hoping that there will soon be a decision of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in their favour and they will raise it as a major issue. But for the moment they are keeping quiet because they are not sure of what would be the judgement in the court.
GN: Do you regret calling Modi a ‘chaiwala’ (tea vendor) and saying, “There is no way he can become prime minister in the 21st century”?
MSA: No regrets. Not at all. So long as our country remains secular and is not driven over by the philosophy of Hindutva, which most Hindus reject, I do not believe that Modi can become Prime Minister of India in the 21st century. And should he so become, I think it will be a disaster for the country.
GN: Unlike in the past, why has politics become such wherein leaders are calling each other termites, scorpions and snakes?
MSA: That only reveals that politics is a profession of strong language. I have quoted former President of the United States Richard Nixon in the past [saying] ‘If you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen.” And I am aware of British Parliamentary history in which much more [has] been said against each other. There is a lot of motor-mouth hypocrisy about the way in which the BJP attempts to pretend that only others use bad language and that’s why Modi called the Congress a party of termites. He is the one who started it and when he got it back, [he] started feeling offended. They are all like: Georgie Porgie, Puddin’ and Pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry, When the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away.
GN: On what basis have you predicted that any government formed in 2014 won’t last its full term and there will be another election in a year or so?
MSA: I am very convinced of this that the approximated nature of our politics is becoming more and more state-centric. And because I represent Tamil Nadu, I am more interested in its politics, than any other state. In this election, for the first time ever, we shall see at least five formations in the field. So any party will face great difficulty in forming a government on its own or in association with one or two other parties. And as we have seen in 1990, a large number of coalition parties just do not last.
