The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the Congress party’s decision to revoke the suspension of senior party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. Reacting to the decision that was taken on Saturday night, BJP’s Sambit Patra said on Sunday that it is a matter of “grave concern”.
“Revoking suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar, who used offensive language for the Prime Minister, by Congress at the behest of Rahul Gandhi is a matter of grave concern,” said Patra during a press conference in New Delhi.
Aiyar, a former Rajya Sabha MP, was suspended from Congress’ primary membership in December last year following his derogatory remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the campaigning for Gujarat polls last year, Aiyar had called the PM a “neech kism ka aadmi”.
Before suspending him, Rahul Gandhi, who was then the vice-president of the party, had publicly censured Aiyar on Twitter demanding an apology.
The diplomat-turned-politician had expressed regret for his comments later claiming that he could not understand the word’s implications when he used it since he is not a Hindi-speaking person.
Around eight months later, it was Gandhi, now the president of the party, who revoked the suspension on Saturday.
In the press release issued by the INC, the party said that the Congress president had taken the decision following a recommendation of the Central Disciplinary Committee of AICC.
“Party President (Rahul Gandhi) has approved the recommendation of the Central Disciplinary Committee of the All India Congress Committee for the revocation of the suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the party’s primary membership with immediate effect,” the statement said.