Aiyar recommends Manipur for Commonwealth Games

Keeping up his campaign against organization of Commonwealth Games, senior Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar has questioned the rationale of Delhi hosting the event and said it would have been a ‘very good answer’ to insurgents if it would have been held in Manipur.

Speaking to a group of Delhi University students, Mr. Aiyar wondered why such mega events come back to Delhi again and again. Even if it is organised here, he asked, why are localities in the outskirts like Bawana ignored?

“Manipur is a tiny state. It bagged the highest number of medals in the National Games (when I was the Sports Minister)... If Rs 35,000 crore (an estimate of the cost of CW Games expenditure) is spent in Manipur, if we conduct the Commonwealth Games there, the insurgents would have got a very good answer,” he said.

Aiyar took potshots at the Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi saying that he was not invited to the National Games despite being the country’s Sports Minister. He also asked why the Games should not be conducted in Bawana in outer Delhi, which has a huge number of SC population. “This area is used to burn rubbish only. What message are you giving to its people?” he asked.