Silence is golden? Mani Shankar Aiyar remains mum on Gujarat election results

Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar was suspended from the party after he made a controverial remark calling PM Narenda Modi neech in the run-up to Gujarat elections.

File photo

New Delhi: Known for making controversial remarks, Mani Shankar Aiyar has almost always spoken his mind on a whole range of issues. After his much-criticised comment on PM Narendra Modi though, the veteran politician may have realised that silence is indeed golden.

Asked about his views on the recent Gujarat results where Bhartiya Janata Party emerged victorious yet again, Aiyar on Friday remained uncharacteristically indifferent. News agency ANI repeatedly asked him for his opinion in what was a bitterly-fought election but the suspended Congress leader found his newspaper to be far more worthy of his attention.

#WATCH: Mani Shankar Aiyar refuses to answer a question on #GujaratElection results, at an event in #Kolkata pic.twitter.com/k1v8hBnb1Q

— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2017

Earlier this month, Aiyar had called PM Modi neech in the run-up to voting in Gujarat. He was widely criticised and was even targeted by PM Modi himself in an election rally. Congress issued a notice and suspended him for his remark. Rahul Gandhi even said Aiyar should apologise. Instead, he had said that he may have misspoken since Hindi was not his mother tongue.

Since, several political analysists and leaders have even gone to the extent of saying it was Aiyar's comments which tilted the elections away from Congress. Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily was one such figure who said that the remarks 'did cause damage to the party in Gujarat polls.'

Little wonder then that Aiyar now is content in being silent rather than expressing his views.