Finance minister accuses Congress of compromising national security, says only judicial body can review deals like Rafale as JPC probe could be partisan.
New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley Friday said the Gandhi family and the Congress had spread falsehood and compromised on national security by alleging a scam in the Rafale deal.
He was reacting to Friday’s Supreme Court order dismissing a bunch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the fighter jet deal.
Jaitley, along with defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, was addressing the media hours after the SC delivered its verdict, seen as a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi government.
“They refused to accept even the Supreme Court verdict just because the falsehood is created by a family… certainly in our democracy, the family is not above the Supreme Court,” Jaitley said.
“There has been always a fundamental difference between falsehood and truth. Truth always holds together. It explains everything,” he said.
“Falsehood is bound to fall apart. Indeed it has. Falsehood also has very short life. In this case (Rafale deal), it was a few months,” Jaitley added.
The deaf won’t hear, says minister
Prior to Jaitley’s press conference, BJP president Amit Shah addressed the media, during which he dared Congress president Rahul Gandhi to produce documents in support of his claim about corruption in the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
“I want Rahul Gandhi to reveal the source of his information,” Shah said at a press conference. “He should tell the people of this country.”
Subsequently, the Congress said it will press for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the issue.
“The deaf will never hear an answer,” Jaitley said in response to the Congress’ statement.
Also read: Set up a JPC to look into Rafale deal, says AAP petitioner Sanjay Singh
‘Congress indulging in fiction writing’
Jaitley said the Rafale deal protected both the security and commercial interests of the country.
“Security interest because it increases combat ability of India, commercial interest because the final price was significantly lower both for aircraft and weaponised aircraft than what was negotiated in 2007 and 2012,” Jaitley said.
Accusing the Congress of compromising the national security, he said that deals like Rafale cannot be reviewed by a non-judicial body as there has been experience in the past of JPCs working on partisan lines.
He said the Congress was indulging in fiction writing that compromised “national security”, adding that the alleged controversy has hurt India’s larger security interests as it has led to a situation where civil servants and the armed forces will think ten times before taking a decision.
Jaitley said every figure cited by Gandhi in his allegations has been false.
Reading out chunks of the Supreme Court judgment, Sitharaman said that the order has put the Rafale matter to rest.
Also read: Truth always triumphs — Amit Shah wants Rahul Gandhi apology after SC Rafale verdict