Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Congress leader and former Union minister, claimed on Wednesday that former PM PV Narasimha Rao was "communal" and referred to him as "the first BJP PM" of the nation.
The former diplomat argued for the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan in his autobiography, "Memoirs of a Maverick -- The First Fifty Years (1941-1991)," which was released on Monday. He said that while "we have the courage to carry out surgical strikes against them, we don't have the guts to sit across the table and talk to a Pakistani."
At the official publication of his book here, Aiyar engaged in a rambling conversation with veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi in which he discussed a wide range of topics, including his friendship with former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and his time serving as consul general in Karachi from December 1978 to January 1982.
Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress parliamentary party and the spouse of Rajiv Gandhi, was in the audience.
When challenged about his criticism of Rajiv Gandhi's handling of the Babri Masjid controversy during the question-and-answer session, Aiyar responded, "It shows that I am even-handed. I believe the Shilanyas were mistaken.
"I think the biggest mistake Rajiv Gandhi made was to bring awful R K Dhawan into the PMO which immediately politicized an office that was otherwise, for the previous four years, a purely technical office and was giving the right advice without getting into politics," said the 82-year-old politician.
Aiyar said he learned "how communal and how Hindu-oriented" P V Narasimha Rao was during his remarks at the book launch.
Aiyar continued by recounting a conversation he had with Rao while the latter was performing the "Ram-Rahim" yatra.
The former diplomat-turned-politician recalled how when Rajiv Gandhi's appointment as prime minister was unexpectedly revealed, he questioned how a man who had previously flown for Indian Airlines would manage the nation.
"I only started to admire him after I saw how he ran this country," he remarked.
The Bofors and Shah Bano cases, among other controversies surrounding Rajiv Gandhi, would be covered in later volumes, according to Aiyar.
