Aiyar in Pakistan: PM Modi will be defeated in 2019

Suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be defeated in 2019 general elections.

Aiyar made this prediction while speaking on 'Pakistan-India Relations- The Way Forward' during the Iqbal Ahmad Distinguished Lecture 2018 at Forman College, Lahore.

He said Prime Minister Modi won 2014 general elections despite 70 per cent of Indians not voting for him, but hoped that it will not be repeated in 2019.

"In the last five years, the attempt has been made to promote the concept of India as a Hindu state. And, while 70 per cent of Indian electorates didn't vote for Mr. Modi in last elections but lost because they were completely fractionated among themselves. It is my hope that a great number of this 70 percent, who did not vote for BJP in the last election, will come together adequately to be able to put an end to the aberration that we've been suffering in our country," Aiyar said.

It is not the first time that Aiyar has launched direct attack on Prime Minister Modi. He was suspended from Congress December last year for terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a 'neech' (a low life).

Aiyar also backed his statement on Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah which has triggered criticism in India.

He also criticised Indian TV anchors for becoming "hysterical" after he termed Jinnah as "Quaid-e-Azam" at an event in Pakistan on Saturday.

"I referred to Jinnah as the Quaid-e-Azam and the hysterical Indian TV anchors are demanding to know how an Indian can go to Pakistan and say this. We dropped to that level," Aiyar said.

He added that "I know many Pakistanis who call Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi, does that make them unpatriotic Pakistanis?"

Aiyar was flayed by BJP for lauding Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah even as there is a raging controversy over Jinnah's portrait in Aligarh Muslim University.

The BJP has slammed Aiyar in the wake of the row.

BJP President Amit Shah was the first to criticise Aiyar.

On Saturday, Shah said Congress and Pakistan have amazing telepathy.

"Congress and Pakistan have amazing telepathy. Yesterday Pakistan Government remembered Tipu Sultan, whose Jayanti Congress marks with fanfare and today Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar admires Jinnah. Be it Gujarat or Karnataka polls, I fail to understand why Congress involves Pakistan!" Shah tweeted.

BJP Spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that Aiyar's statement reveals the true feeling of the Congress.

Of late, Jinnah is in the news in India. In Aligarh, some groups have protested against the portrait of Pakistan's founder at the office of Aligarh Muslim University student union's office.

The matter hit the headlines after BJP's Aligarh MP Satish Gautam questioned the portrait's presence in the AMU student union office.

On Thursday, 28 students and 13 cops were injured in a clash which broke out between AMU students and the police.