Mani Shankar Aiyar was born on 10 April 1941 and is an Indian politician and former career civil servant diplomat.
28 Facts About Mani Shankar Aiyar
2.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is a member of the Indian National Congress Party.
3.
Mani Shankar Aiyar was a nominated member of parliament from Rajya Sabha.
4.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is the son of Vaidyanatha Shankar Aiyar, a chartered accountant, and Bhagyalakshmi Shankar Aiyar.
5.
Mani Shankar Aiyar was born in Laxmi Mansions, Lahore in British India, which as post-Partition refugee property, became house for the family of Saadat Hassan Manto.
6.
Mani Shankar Aiyar lost his father at age 12 in an air crash.
7.
Mani Shankar Aiyar was an active member of the Marxist Society in Cambridge.
8.
At Cambridge, Mani Shankar Aiyar joined student politics and once even tried to win a presidential contest.
9.
Mani Shankar Aiyar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963 and served as Joint Secretary to Government of India from 1982 to 1983 in Ministry of External Affairs and later as Joint Secretary at Prime Minister's Office from 1985 to 1989.
10.
Mani Shankar Aiyar resigned from service in 1989 to take up a career in politics and media, entering the Parliament as a Congress MP from Mayiladuthurai in 1991,1999 and 2004 but was defeated in 1996,1998,2009 and 2014.
11.
Mani Shankar Aiyar spent some time in Pakistan posted as a diplomat, serving as India's first consul-general in Karachi from 1978 to 1982.
12.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee and was a chairman of both the party's political training department and the department of policy planning and coordination.
13.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is a well-known political columnist and has written several books, including Pakistan Papers and Remembering Rajiv, and has edited a four-volume publication, Rajiv Gandhi's India.
14.
Mani Shankar Aiyar was married on 4 January 1973 to Suneet Vir Singh, a Sikh woman.
15.
Mani Shankar Aiyer has been a part of many controversies.
16.
In 2000, Mani Shankar Aiyar was involved in a public brawl with politician Amar Singh.
17.
Mani Shankar Aiyar ordered that a plaque with a poem commemorating Savarkar be replaced with a plaque with quotes from Mahatma Gandhi.
18.
Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks created confusion as well in the ruling party; the official spokesman, Anand Sharma, noted that the Congress Party did not consider Savarkar either a freedom fighter or a patriot.
19.
Mani Shankar Aiyar belittled the Kirori Mal College and the BA Degree, a course in the University of Delhi.
20.
When later questioned by the media, Mani Shankar Aiyar refused to apologise and rather ridiculed the institutions even further.
21.
Mani Shankar Aiyar's comment was disowned by the congress saying it's his personal view and not the party's view.
22.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is said to have suggested that Pakistan remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power, to be able to continue peace talks between India and Pakistan.
23.
Mani Shankar Aiyer justified November 2015 Paris attacks as a response to France banning Hijab.
24.
Mani Shankar Aiyar justified Charlie Hebdo shooting as a backlash for the death of Muslims.
25.
Mani Shankar Aiyar's comments were disapproved by his own party members.
26.
Mani Shankar Aiyar sparked a political firestorm when he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "neech aadmi", which PM Modi interpreted as nichli jaati.
27.
Mani Shankar Aiyar said the comments by the PM showed his "low-level mindset and one bereft of any manners".
28.
Mani Shankar Aiyar has a history of controversial statements against the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.