Mani Shankar Aiyar on Trump’s win: ‘A felon and despicable man’ chosen as US President

New Delhi, Nov 6 (IANS) Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar is not happy with Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential elections. Talking to IANS here on Wednesday, Aiyar said: “I am deeply disappointed that such a person, who has been labelled a felon by American courts and whose history includes visits to prostitutes and paying them to silence them, has been chosen as the world’s most powerful president.”

He further remarked: “It is truly disheartening to see such a despicable man elected. I also regret that Kamala Harris, who might have won, would have been the first woman and the first politician with ties to India to become President.

“Personally, I believe Donald Trump is not a good man. It’s a separate matter if you ask what impact this will have on our politics, but when you look at his character, there is no doubt in my mind that the wrong person has been elected. This is my personal opinion.”

On the question of potential passage of the One Nation, One Election (ONOE) Bill and the Waqf Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament this month, Mani Shankar Aiyar said: “I’m not closely following these matters because I am not in Parliament, and my party has sidelined me. I don’t have much interest in the details, but in principle, it would be wrong to tell Muslims that we will change this or that without their consent, because that would not be in their best interest.”

“As for what I read in the newspapers, Jagdambika Pal, who was once in Congress, has now become the chairman of a committee, but it seems he is not managing the committee properly. There have been complaints from many opposition leaders, and they’ve met with Om Birla ji to address the issue. Let’s see what Birla ji does in this regard.”

Aiyar further said: “I believe this idea (ONOE) is completely nonsense. Our country’s unity is built on its diversity. The RSS and the Sangh Parivar, who are connected with it, always try to reduce diversity and create a singular Hindu identity. I believe this is harmful to the country, especially for us in the South. I come from Tamil Nadu, and it would be unfair to impose one election model for all. In the North, this system might work, but in Tamil Nadu, it doesn’t.

“For example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only one seat in Tamil Nadu, and one in Kerala. Why should we be forced to adopt a uniform election system when Modi himself does not represent our region? His role is in Delhi, not in our states. From 1967 onward, our prime ministers have worked and contested elections based on the specific political conditions of the states. I don’t understand why we need a single election for the entire country when the political dynamics of each state are so different.”

On the implementation of UCC in Uttarakhand, the Congress leader said: “I don’t know what the opinion of the minority communities is in Uttarakhand. My understanding is that their population is very small. Most of them are likely to be in places like Dehradun, Haridwar, or Rishikesh, but they are few in number, especially in the mountainous areas. So, what they’ve done there, I think, is fine, but making it a model for the entire country would be wrong.”

–IANS

brt/pgh