Never made casteist comment against Modi: Mani Shankar Aiyar
Jaipur (PTI): Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has rejected allegations that he made casteist remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asserting that his comments were directed at the prime minister's "character" and not his caste.
The bureaucrat-turned-politician also said that he is called the "child of Macaulay" for speaking English, and questioned whether PM Modi knows Tamil.
Speaking on the controversy surrounding his alleged past remarks, Aiyar said he never described PM Modi as belonging to a "low caste".
"I never called him a person of 'neecha jaat' (low caste). I said he was a 'low kind of person', referring to his character. That is completely different," he said at a programme in Jaipur on Saturday evening.
Aiyar said his remarks had been misinterpreted and projected in a way that suggested he was referring to his caste. He claimed that the prime minister portrayed the comment as a caste-based insult because Aiyar is a Brahmin.
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The former minister also referred to the controversy over his alleged remark that a "tea seller cannot become the prime minister". Aiyar said he had never made such a statement and that the claim attributed to him was incorrect.
"I never said that because he is a tea seller, he cannot become the prime minister," Aiyar said, adding that his criticism was instead directed at what he described as Modi's "lack of historical knowledge".
According to Aiyar, he had questioned how a person who, in his view, did not know certain historical facts could be in the role (of prime minister) that Jawaharlal Nehru had.
He said that he had referred to historical points such as the fact that Alexander never reached Pataliputra and that while Nalanda is in India, Taxila is now in Pakistan.
Aiyar said that after making those remarks, he had jokingly added that if Modi wanted to distribute tea after losing the election, arrangements could be made.
"Who called him a tea seller? Modi himself said he was a tea seller," Aiyar said.
He also raised doubts about Modi's assertion that he sold tea at a railway platform in his hometown Vadnagar, claiming that the town did not have a railway platform until 1973.
Aiyar alleged that such claims and what he described as "misleading narratives" played a role in Modi's rise to the post of prime minister.
He alleged that remarks made about Muslims have contributed to communal polarisation in the country.
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Cong 'pocketed' Rs 150 cr per annum from Assam healthcare budget during 15 yrs of rule: Shah
Guwahati (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that the Congress, during its previous 15 years of rule in Assam, "pocketed" Rs 150 crore per annum from the state healthcare budget.
Inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for healthcare projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam, Shah said the BJP works for affordable healthcare for all sections of society and lauded Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for bringing the state's medical facilities at par with states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
"Assam's healthcare was in shambles 10 years ago as Congress worked only for the financial health of its leaders' families," he said.
Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that no Indian supports his acts of "defaming" the country in his bid to oppose the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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He lambasted the Congress for its "shirtless" protest at the recent AI summit in New Delhi and Gandhi for having 'chai-pakora' on the stairs of Parliament House.
"We were also in the opposition and staged protests against the government, but there is a right platform for it," he said.
"Parliament is a sacred seat of democracy. Its stairs should not be used for even dharnas. And Rahul Gandhi was having 'chai-pakora' there. Doesn't he know where to have his breakfast?" asked the Union minister.
Shah inaugurated the Rs 675-crore Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati, at a programme held on its premises.
He also virtually inaugurated two cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), constructed at a cost of Rs 135 crore each.
Shah virtually laid the foundation stone for super-speciality hospitals at Diphu Medical College and Hospital (Rs 220 crore), Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (Rs 310 crore), and Barpeta Medical College and Hospital (Rs 284 crore).
The foundation stone for a Rs 218-crore Swasthya Bhawan in Guwahati, and the Abhayapuri District Hospital (Rs 115 crore) were also laid by the Union home minister.
Shah arrived here on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Assam, his fourth visit to the northeastern state in four months.
