Govt blasts Congress's flying 'fiction' on Rafale deal

Armed with the Supreme Court verdict that rejected a clutch of pleas for a probe into the Rafale deal, the Narendra Modi government and his Bharatiya Janata Party withered the Congress with an attack on its chief Rahul Gandhi for spreading "falsehood" and "compromising national security".

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who addressed a press conference along with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, termed Gandhi's allegations of wrongdoing in the deal as "fiction writing".

Without naming Gandhi, Jaitley took a dig at him saying the Congress could not refuse to accept falsehood just because it was spread by a particular family.

"The fundamental difference between truth and falsehood is that truth holds but falsehood is bound to fall. Falsehood has a short life, in this case a few months and it lowers the credibility of the creator," Jaitley said.

BJP president Amit Shah held a press conference at the party headquarters here, saying the court verdict "is a slap on the faces of those who made the allegations".

"Rahul Gandhi has misled the nation on Rafale.. He has put the national security at risk. He owes an apology to the people of the nation and the defence forces whose morale he has hurt with his lies," said the BJP chief.
He was flanked by Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and JP Nadda and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya among others.

Shah said Gandhi must disclose his source of information on the basis of which he made the allegation. "Sab chor ekattha hokar chowkidar ko chor keh rahe hain [All thieves have got together to call calling the watchman a thief]," Shah said.

The Rafale fighter jet deal with France sparked a slugfest after the Congress said the price of jets was escalated by the NDA government to thrice of what was negotiated by the UPA dispensation.

The party had alleged that each aircraft would have cost Rs 526.10 crore as per negotiations done by the UPA but the incumbent government agreed to pay Rs 1,570.80 crore for it. 

The deal was in limbo for years till the Modi regime, in an inter-governmental agreement with France, decided to buy two squadrons or 36 aircraft in 2016 at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore, withdrawing the request for proposal for 126 craft.

The government said it stood vindicated on the pricing issue and accused the opposition of compromising the security and commercial interests of the country by making wild allegations.

The induction of the fighter jet is expected to start next year and the three dozen craft would be in by 2022.

Later in the day, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress president's comments on Rafale deal are being appreciated by Pakistan as well. "Because China and Pakistan have strengthened their Air Force, and they want to know about our strength as well," he said.

"We want to ask Rahul Gandhi - Between 2006 and 2011, when there was minimum tender in Dassault, why didn't you finalise the deal (Rafale)? What was stopping you?," he said.

Prasad said the Congress president has made disgraceful remarks against the Prime Minister "whose honesty is known to all".

"The Supreme Court judgement has exposed Rahul Gandhi's lies. Now, he is condoning the Supreme Court as well... Is he and his party above the apex court?" he asked.