Congress revokes suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar
The Congress on Saturday said it had revoked the suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar from the party following recommendation by its disciplinary committee. Aiyar was suspended in December 2017 after he used a derogatory word against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections.
The comment had drawn criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi who attributed the use of the word to Congress' feudal arrogance. After the controversial remark, then Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had taken to Twitter to publicly censure Aiyar.
The former Rajya Sabha MP had expressed regret for his comments later.
"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," a Congress statement said.
In his defence, diplomat turned politician Aiyar had contended that he could not understand the word's implications when he used it since he is not a Hindi-speaking person.
