"INDI alliance leaders lost their intelligence, wisdom": Ex MP CM Chouhan on Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 10 : Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday took a jibe at the opposition party over Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan saying leaders of the INDI alliance lost their intelligence and wisdom.
Congress leader Aiyar on Friday found himself at the centre of a fresh controversy after a clip of him saying that Pakistan is a respected nation and suggesting that India should engage in dialogue with them went viral.
Reacting to the remark, Chouhan said, "The leaders of the INDI alliance are victims of intellectual bankruptcy. They have lost their intelligence and wisdom. Mani Shankar ji, this is not the loose government of UPA. Today, the Prime Minister of India is one who has a 56-inch chest (Narendra Modi). India has clearly said that we believe in the development of everyone. We will not poke anyone but if someone will poke us then we will not spare anyone."
India is not going to be afraid. These cowardly people are all in the INDI alliance, the BJP leader added.
Notably, in an interview with Chill Pill Mani Shankar Aiyar on April 15 said, "They are also a sovereign country (Pakistan). They are a respected nation. You can talk tough with them (Pakistan). But start the dialogue. You are walking with a gun which yielded you nothing. Tensions are escalating. And if a mad person comes there, what will happen to the nation? They have an atom bomb. We also possess the atomic bomb. But if a mad person detonates our bomb at Lahore station, within eight seconds, eight moments, its radioactivity will reach Amritsar."
He added, "So you should prevent the use of atomic bombs. But, if you start a dialogue with them (Pakistan) and encourage them (by considering them as), then they should start thinking about their atomic bomb. But if you snub them, then a mad person will come and detonate the bomb. Then what will happen?"
Nonetheless, the Congress party distanced itself from Mani Shankar Aiyar's remark.
In a post on X, All India Congress Committee media department chairman Pawan Khera wrote, "Indian National Congress dissociates itself completely from and disagrees totally with some remarks made by Mani Shankar Aiyar a few months back which have been revived today by the BJP in its attempt to deflect attention from Prime Minister Modi's daily goof ups. Aiyer does not speak for the party in any capacity whatsoever."
"The Indian National Congress and indeed the entire nation recalls with pride that in Dec 1971 Pakistan was broken and an independent Bangladesh emerged thanks to Indira Gandhi's decisive and determined leadership and the valour of our armed forces," the post further reads.
"Almost exactly 50 years ago on May 18 1974 under the leadership of Indiraji, India's nuclear capability was announced to the world. The Indian National Congress has always believed that our decision-making should be guided by supreme national interest.