NDA government defeats no-trust motion comfortably

The NDA government tonight sailed through the no-confidence motion against it in the Lok Sabha, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbing it a result of the opposition's "arrogance" and its 'Modi hatao' mindset as he hit back at Rahul Gandhi over "childish" behaviour.

The government got the support of 325 members, while 126 backed the motion with 451 MPs present in the House.

Members of the Shiv Sena, BJD and TRS were not present in the House when the voting took place. Several AIADMK members opposed the motion, in a boost to the NDA.

Replying to an over 10-hour debate on the motion, Modi appealed to all parties to defeat it and accused the Congress president of "crushing" the truth and "playing with national security" by making allegations against him on the Doklam issue and by speaking of graft in the Rafale aircraft deal.

Hours after Gandhi left everyone surprised by walking across to the Prime Minister's chair to hug him, Modi sought to turn the tables on him, saying he appeared to be in a hurry to occupy his seat as he kept asking him to stand up for an embrace.

"What is his hurry to come to power? Let me tell this member, it is the people who elected us. That is how we have come here," he said.

The whole country has watched the game he played with his eyes, Modi said, evoking laughter from treasury benches as he gestured with his hands, apparently referring to Gandhi's wink in the House following his speech.

If Gandhi kept Modi in his line of fire through his speech, it was the turn of the Congress' ruling family when the prime minister spoke.

"The country is not unaware of the history of one family which stoked political instability in the country time and again for its selfish intersts," he said.

Modi said his fate was in the hands of 125 crore people and added that he prayed to lord Shiva, who was invoked by Gandhi in his speech, and the countrymen, that the Congress leader bring a similar no-confidence motion in 2024.

He cited several development and welfare initiatives while hitting out at the opposition, saying the country has seen how much negativity has seeped into his rivals that they were speaking against the progress made by the country.

To remove him, these parties, which could not even stand each other, have got together but he had the people's blessings, Modi said as he recited verses and shlokas to describe the opposition as a decrepit ship without a captain.

This is not his government's floor test but a "force test" that the Congress has done to see which parties are with it, he said.

Without naming Gandhi, Modi said due to his "careless" allegation on the Rafale deal, both India and France had to release statements. There is complete transparency in the deal, he asserted.

Gandhi also spoke about the Doklam issue but believed the Chinese Ambassador over our forces, Modi said referring to Gandhi's meeting with Chinese diplomats during the standoff.

"What have we come to? Everything does not merit a childish conduct," he said.

Apparently referring to the opposition attack on his government over mob lynching incidents, Modi said he has asked state governments to take action against the culprits who indulge in violence.

Earlier,  Congress President Rahul Gandhi today accused the government of "lying" to the nation on the issue of sharing details of the Rafale jet deal which was rejected strongly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the charges "distortion of truth".

In his response on the issue while replying to the debate on no-confidence motion, Modi urged Gandhi to not make such childish allegations on such sensitive issues having security implications. "The allegations are distortion of truth." Referring to the Rafale deal in his speech, Gandhi accused the government of indulging in corruption in the deal and described Modi as a "bhagidaar" (collaborator) in cases of alleged graft, not a "chowkidaar (guard).

Gandhi said the French president had clearly conveyed to him during a meeting that there was no problem in sharing details relating to the Rafale deal worth Rs 58,000 crore.

Hours after Gandhi's comments, a spokesperson in the French Foreign Ministry said France had signed a security pact with India in 2008 which legally binds the two countries to protect the classified information which could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipment.

However, the official did not clarify whether the provisions of the pact restrict the Indian government to disclose price details of the Rafale deal.

Alleging corruption in the deal, the Congress has been demanding details, including cost of equipment and weapons, but the government has refused to share them citing a secrecy pact with France.

In his reply, Modi said, "Just because of one careless allegation in the House on Rafale, both the nations had to release statements. We should not indulge in such childish behaviour." Earlier, Gandhi made one of his sharpest attacks on the government, saying the truth is that Modi is not a "chowkidar" but a "bhagidaar" in the wrong-doings.

"I personally met the French president and asked him if there is such a pact between the French and Indian governments. The French president told me that there is no such pact between the French and Indian governments," Gandhi said.

"This is the truth, and he told me that I have no objection to it (details of Rafale deal) being made public, you can tell it to entire India," he said.

After the statement by the French official, Gandhi said he stood by his statement.

The Congress president alleged that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was lying to the country under pressure from the prime minister.

"Who is being helped, why is the help being given, Niramala ji, the prime minister should tell the country." Vehemently rejecting the charges, Sitharaman said the secrecy agreement with France was signed in 2008 and the Rafale deal was covered under it.

"As per article 10 of the Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) between India and France, on purchase of Rafale aircraft, protection of classified information and materials exchanged under IGA shall be governed by provisions of security agreement signed on January 25, 2008," she said.

Sitharaman said the pact was inked during the UPA regime when A K Antony was the defence minister. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar also rejected the charges.

India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore, nearly one-and-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposal during a visit to Paris.

The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019.

The Congress had raised several questions about the deal including the rates, and accused the government of compromising national interest and security while causing a loss to the public exchequer.

The Congress has alleged that the deal negotiated under its rule was much cheaper than the contract signed by the Modi government.

The government has been refusing to divulge details of the deal citing confidentiality provisions of an Indo-French pact of 2008.

The Congress also claimed that Qatar had purchased 12 Rafale fighter jets in November 2017 for USD 108.33 million per aircraft (Rs 694.80 crore), noting that the per aircraft rate at which the Gulf nation is buying the jet is much lower than the rate at which India will procure them