• Source:JND
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Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has initiated another row as he called the 1962 war between India and China an ‘alleged invasion’ by the latter. The purported video of the statement, which was made during an event at the Foreign Correspondents Club on Tuesday, is getting fervidly viral across social media platforms. After attracting criticism and ire over the comment, the Congress party chose to distance itself from the remark.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh highlighted that his party colleague had later issued an "unreserved" apology for mistakenly using the term "alleged invasion." He also said that the party distances itself from the "original phraseology" used by Aiyar.

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Moreover, Ramesh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving a clean chit to China for their 2020 misadventure in Ladakh, adding that the 1962 invasion of China was real.

“Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar has subequently apologised unreservedly for using the term "alleged invasion" mistakenkly. Allowances must be made for his age. The INC distances itself from his original phraseology. The Chinese invasion of India that began on October 20 1962 was for REAL. So too were the Chinese incursions in Ladakh in early May 2020 in which 20 of our soldiers were martyred and the status quo disturbed. The outgoing PM, however, gave a clean chit publicly to the Chinese on June 19th 2020, seriously weakening our negotiating position. 2000 sq km of territory including Depsang and Demchok remain out of bounds for Indian troops,” Ramesh wrote on X.

Aiyar initially used the word ‘allegedly’ but later corrected himself while issuing an apology. "I unreservedly apologise for having mistakenly used the word ‘alleged’ before 'Chinese invasion' at the Foreign Correspondents Club this evening."

The BJP, however, lapped up the issue and hit out at the Congress over Aiyer’s remark. “Mani Shankar Aiyar, speaking at the FCC, during the launch of a book called Nehru's First Recruits, refers to the Chinese invasion in 1962 as 'alleged'. This is a brazen attempt at revisionism,” Amit Malviya posted on X (formally Twitter).

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Notably, this is not the first instance when the Congress leader’s remark created a row. Days back, Aiyar courted controversy by saying that Pakistan was a "respected nation" that also possesses an atom bomb so India must enter into a dialogue with them.