Kicking up a political row ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said China “allegedly” invaded India in October 1962.

He was speaking at the launch of Kallol Bhattacherjee’s book “Nehru’s First Recruits” at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) here on Tuesday.

“I was literally Jawaharlal Nehru’s last recruit… In October 1962, the Chinese allegedly invaded India. On the day Tawang fell, the foreign services exam began in London. When they were over, I was prominent in the Cambridge Union, and newspapers used to make references to me. So many newspapers linked me with leftist ideologies,” he said at the event.

He, however, later sought to clarify his stance, admitting that his choice of the term ‘alleged’ was inappropriate, particularly during an election period.

The Congress distanced itself from the remarks while hitting out at the Narendra Modi government over the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

“Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar has subsequently apologized unreservedly for using the term “alleged invasion” mistakenly. Allowances must be made for his age. The INC distances itself from his original phraseology,” party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on ‘X’.

“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,” he added.

Aiyar had recently landed up in another controversy over his remarks on Pakistan.

In an interview with a YouTube channel, Chill Pill, posted on April 15, he said India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan as it possessed an atomic bomb.

“India should give respect to Pakistan as it has an atom bomb. If we don’t give them respect, they will think of using an atomic bomb against India,” he had said.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tore into the Congress for inculcating an “anti-India” mindset.

Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia said, “Mani Shankar Aiyar says that in 1962 China allegedly invaded India. Can this happen without the approval of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge who are silent? Why this silence? We all know the relationship between India and China. India has been standing strong with pride showing China its place. At this time, this signal by Congress and Mani Shankar Aiyar shows the anti-India mindset of the Congress party…”

The BJP’s IT department head, Amit Malviya, also slammed the Congress over Aiyar’s remarks. “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,” he said on X.

“Nehru gave up India’s claim on permanent seat at the UNSC in favour of the Chinese, Rahul Gandhi signed a secret MoU, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation accepted funds from the Chinese Embassy and published reports recommending market access for Chinese companies, based on them, Sonia Gandhi’s UPA opened up Indian market for Chinese goods, hurting MSMEs and now Congress leader Aiyar wants to whitewash the Chinese invasion, post which the Chinese have been in illegal occupation of 38,000 sq km of Indian territory What explains Congress’s love for the Chinese?” he added.

The last phase of the crucial general election will be held on June 1 and results will be out on June 4.