IFS was 'upper caste' service, becoming more democratic now: Mani Shankar Aiyar
The Hindu
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar criticizes the Indian Foreign Service, calling it an "upper caste" service, now becoming more democratic.
Congress leader and former diplomat Mani Shankar Aiyar called the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) of yore an "upper caste" service comprising "Macaulay ki aulad", which he claimed is becoming more democratic now with the flavour of the country getting into it.
Speaking at the launch of author Kallol Bhattacherjee's "Nehru's First Recruit" in New Delhi, on May 28, Mr. Aiyar, who literally describes himself as the "last IFS recruit" of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, said the country has overcome the "bad features" of its first generation recruits.
At the event, Mr. Aiyar also referred to the 1962 Indo-China war as an alleged "Chinese invasion" but soon "unreservedly apologised" on the usage of the word 'alleged'.
In a brief statement on Tuesday, Mr. Aiyar said, "I unreservedly apologise for having mistakenly used the word 'alleged' before 'Chinese invasion' at the Foreign Correspondents Club this evening." His phraseology, which has now triggered into a fresh controversy, saw the Congress disassociating itself with Mr. Aiyar's statement.
"Allowances must be made for his age. The INC distances itself from his original phraseology. The Chinese invasion of India that began on October 20, 1962, was for REAL. So too were the Chinese incursions in Ladakh in early May 2020 in which 20 of our soldiers were martyred and the status quo disturbed," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posted on X.
Mr. Ramesh, in his tweet, also reiterated that the veteran party leader has "subsequently apologised unreservedly for using the term 'alleged invasion' mistakenly".
Speaking on the IFS, Mr. Aiyar said, "The IFS up to my generation and even into the 21st century was an upper caste service. It was a service made up of ‘Macaulay ki aulad’ (children of Lord Macaulay). Now, it is becoming more democratic and it has a lot of Hindi speakers... We are getting the flavour of our country into the foreign service and that I think is a very good thing".