New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) Amid the row over his reported remarks on former PM Rajiv Gandhi's academic record, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Friday hit back at the BJP for allegedly putting out a small clip from an over two-hour interview and said he had called Gandhi an "excellent prime minister" in the same conversation.

He made the remarks on the row during a discussion on his new book, an autobiography, 'A Maverick in Politics' at the Foreign Correspondents Club of South Asia.

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Asked about the row, Aiyar read out a statement in which he alleged that BJP IT department head Amit Malviya extracted less than a minute from his interview that lasted for two hours and 23 minutes.

"My interview lasted over two hours, 23 minutes. Out of this, Malviya extracted less than one minute, 50 seconds precisely. When I said the same thing at page 248 of my memoirs, released in August 2023, the media took no notice. But when Amit Malviya feeds 50 seconds, the media and social media kick up a huge controversy," Aiyar said in his statement at the event.

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"If Malviya or anyone in the media had cared to continue listening for just ten seconds, you would have heard me saying: 'aur aaj shayad main wahi hoon jo ki kehta hoon ki bahut hi behtareen pradhan mantri koi bhi rahe, toh woh hain Rajiv Gandhi)'," the former Union minister said.

"Indeed, it is I and I alone who have written the most comprehensive account and defence of Rajiv Gandhi's premiership, 'The Rajiv I Knew' which was released about a year and two months ago," he said.

"My question is: Why have so many media outlets become loudspeakers for BJP propaganda?" he further said in his statement.

Aiyar said Gandhi was brilliant as prime minister and within a year, he solved issues in Assam and Punjab. Gandhi opened avenues to improving ties with China and Pakistan and made a strong pitch for nuclear disarmament, Aiyar said.

"If this great man is being denounced by Amit Malviya, I am asking you to go 10 seconds forward and listen to what I said," Aiyar said, slamming the BJP.

Asked about the dominance of the Gandhi family in the Congress, Aiyar said the party has the Gandhi family in its DNA. He said the Nehru-Gandhi family members may or may not have been in a party post but have been looked up by party workers and leaders for over 100 years.

In a video clip shared on X by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya on Wednesday, Aiyar could be heard claiming that Gandhi struggled academically in the UK.

Sharing a 55-second video clip of Aiyar, Malviya had said on X, "Rajiv Gandhi struggled academically, even failing at Cambridge, where passing is relatively easy. He then moved to the Imperial College London but failed there as well. Many questioned how someone with his academic record could become the Prime Minister. Let the veil be stripped."

Several BJP leaders took a swipe at the Congress over Aiyar's comments, while some Congress leaders hailed Gandhi and took swipes at Aiyar over the remark.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)