Mani Shankar Aiyar

Mani Shankar Aiyar was born in Lahore on 10 April 1941. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963, was India's first consul-general in Karachi (1978 to 1982), and was Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office from 1985 to 1989, during Rajiv Gandhi's premiership. He resigned in 1989 to enter politics and won the Mayiladuthurai seat in the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1999 and 2004. He sat in the Rajya Sabha as a nominated member from 2010 to 2016. In Manmohan Singh's government he held Petroleum and Natural Gas (2004 to 2006), Panchayati Raj (2004 to 2009), Youth Affairs and Sports (2006 to 2008) and the Development of the North Eastern Region (2006 to 2009). He has written several books on Rajiv Gandhi and on politics.

On Punjab. Aiyar is cited in Panthic discussion for what he says about the Congress governments' handling of Punjab in the 1980s. The Tribune reported on 13 October 2025 that, in a session on Rajiv Gandhi's legacy at the Khushwant Singh Literature Festival in Kasauli, he:

• blamed senior Army officers for messing up Operation Blue Star through inept planning and poor execution;
• said the Punjab Accord failed because Sant Harchand Singh Longowal insisted on a deadline that was fraught with complications;
• praised Rajiv Gandhi for putting national interest above party interest and for the accords that made elections possible in Punjab and the north east;
• said that "The BJP has destroyed Punjab".

These are his opinions as reported, and others take a different view. P. Chidambaram has called Blue Star a mistake, "the wrong way" to deal with the armed men in the Golden Temple, and said it was a cumulative decision of the Army, intelligence, police and civil defence, so that Indira Gandhi alone should not be blamed (The Tribune).

Remembered for: an outspoken Congress voice and a former official of Rajiv Gandhi's government who has defended its Punjab record while criticising the conduct of the Army in June 1984.