Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over his 'Pakistan has atom bomb' remark and accused the party of finding ways of scaring the people. He also took a jab at Pakistan's economy, saying while the "country had atom bombs", it was looking for someone to sell them but was unable to do so due to their poor quality.
In an old but now-viral interview, Aiyar courted controversy when he said that India should engage in dialogue with Pakistan and not flex its military muscles as it may irk Islamabad into deploying nuclear weapons against New Delhi.
Addressing a rally in Odisha's Kandhamal, PM Modi said, "Time and again Congress try to scare its own country. They say 'sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hain. Ye mare pade log, desh ke man ko bhi maar rahe hain'. (These people say watch out, Pakistan has an atom bomb. They are talking about attacking our country)."
"They talk about Pakistan's bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they don't know how to keep it and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality," he said.
During the interview, Aiyar stated that the government can talk tough to Islamabad if it wants to, but if it doesn’t respect the neighbouring country, it may have to pay a heavy price.
"They have atom bombs. We have them too, but if a ‘madman’ decides to drop a bomb on Lahore, it won’t take 8 seconds for the radiation to reach Amritsar," he warned.
"If we respect them, they will remain peaceful. But if we snub them, what happens if a 'madman' comes up and decides to launch bombs [at India]?" Aiyar asked.
The Congress was quick to distance itself from Aiyar's remarks, stating that they did not reflect the party's stance. It also accused the BJP of deliberately raking up an old interview of Aiyar's to score political points.
