The Congress party, which supported the no-trust motion brought in by the opposition which the Modi government won with landslide numbers, is now planning to move a privilege motion against PM Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the Rafale issue.
Congress to move privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Rafale issue.
— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2018
Rahul Gandhi while speaking during the no-confidence motion debate against the Narendra Modi led government accused the Modi government of indulging in a ‘scam’ in the Rafale deal. He said that there was no confidentiality clause which barred the government from discussing the terms and the price of the Rafale jets. Gandhi claimed that when he met the French President Macron in Delhi, Macron told him that there is no secrecy pact between the two countries.
However, defence minister Nirmala Sithraman promptly countered the allegations with supporting documents. Rahul, the Congress chief was further cornered and his baseless allegations put to rest when the French Government issued a statement which proved that Rahul Gandhi lied on the floor of the Parliament.
The Congress’ parties ill-conceived move to bring a privilege motion against the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister has been incidentally reported on a day when NewX has accessed the copy of the Rafale deal papers, dated 25th January 2008, duly signed by the then defense minister A K Anthony under the UPA regime and the French Ministry of Defence. However, for security reasons, only a part of the document is being aired.
The document clearly states the secret clause, which Rahul Gandhi had shamelessly contradicted on the floor of the house.
Clause mentioned in the document states: ‘Desiring to protect classified information and material exchanged between the parties in the field of defence’. When something is signed by the national security advisor then the document becomes confidential and it is not something which can be put out in the public domain.
The “Rafale scam” allegations have been refuted by many defence analysts including Vishnu Som of NDTV. With proof of the confidentiality agreement signed by the Congress party itself emerging, one wonders if the Rahul Gandhi will now concede and stop play with national security by casting aspersions and repeating the same lie multiple times.
