Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar referred to the 1962 Indo-China war as an “alleged Chinese invasion”, stoking fresh controversy. File
| Photo Credit: M. Srinath
Twenty-four hours ahead of the end of campaigning for the Lok Sabha 2024 election, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar referred to the 1962 Indo-China war as an “alleged Chinese invasion”, stoking fresh controversy.
Speaking at a book launch, Mr. Aiyar said, “In October 1962, the Chinese allegedly invaded India.” When a member in the audience questioned his use of the word ‘allegedly’, Mr. Aiyar sought to amend his stance and apologised for having used the word ‘mistakenly’.
The 1962 Indo-China War took place between October and November of 1962. The Chinese troops attacked across the McMohan Line and captured the Aksai Chin region that belongs to India. Mr. Aiyar was recalling an episode from the time when he had taken the exam for the Indian Foreign Service that coincided with the ‘alleged’ attack.
Citing Mr. Aiyar’s comments, several BJP leaders attacked the Congress which distanced itself from the senior leader’s remarks. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, while distancing the Congress from Mr. Aiyar’s phraseology, pleaded that “allowances must be made for his age.”
“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,” Mr. Ramesh said.
He hit back at the BJP, who, he claimed, for the last four years has been denying the June 2020 Chinese incursion. “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,” Mr. Ramesh posted.
