ch-13-ft-27 | A Maverick in Politics- By Mani Shankar Aiyar

Chapter 13: Footnote 27

Lena Misra, Parimal Dhabi, Aditi Raja, The Indian Express, 9 December 2017. PTI reported the same day that Modi had said, ‘. . . after I became prime minister, this man (Aiyar) went to Pakistan. . . In that meeting he is seen discussing with Pakistanis that ‘jab tak Modi ko rasta se hataya nahi jata’ (until Modi is removed from the way) relations between India and Pakistan cannot improve . . . What is the meaning of ‘raste se hatana’? You had gone to Pakistan to give my supari, you wanted to give Modi supari (gangster term for “contract to eliminate”).’ Please note the frequent use of the word ‘you’ when I, not the audience, is being addressed. This is an idiom often used by Hindi-speakers. I had used the same idiom when responding to the Pakistani TV interviewer.