In more trouble for the Congress in the run-up to the general election, senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar kicked up a row with his remarks “India should give respect to Pakistan as it has an atom bomb”.

As his remarks in an interview went viral, the Congress has distanced itself from Aiyar’s remarks and said the party totally disagrees with what he had said.

The latest controversy came days after another senior party leader Sam Pitroda created a storm with his ‘racist’ remarks in an interview to The Statesman, following which he resigned from the post of chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress.

Notably in December 2017, Aiyar was suspended from the party for his “neech aadmi” (vile man) remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His suspension was revoked later.

In a post on ‘X’, Congress’ Chairman of Media and Publicity Department Pawan Khera said, “Indian National Congress dissociates itself completely from and disagrees totally with some remarks made by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar few months back which have been revived today by the BJP in its attempt to deflect attention from Prime Minister Modi’s daily goof ups. Mr Aiyer does not speak for the party in any capacity whatsoever.”

“The Indian National Congress and indeed the entire nation recalls with pride that in December 1971 Pakistan was broken and an independent Bangladesh emerged, thanks to Indira Gandhi’s decisive and determined leadership and the valour of our armed forces,” he said.

Khera further said, “Almost exactly 50 years ago on May 18, 1974 under the leadership of Indiraji, India’s nuclear capability was announced to the world. The Indian National Congress has always believed that our decision making should be guided by supreme national interest.”

Attacking the BJP, he said, “And if old videos are to be used, here is a not so old video where the External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar ) is publicly advising India to be afraid of China.”

In the podcast, Jaishankar is heard saying, “They are the bigger economy. As a smaller economy I am not going to sort of go pick a fight with a bigger economy.”