Congress says it conducted a door-to-door survey last year, which covered around 2 lakh polling booths across the country.
New Delhi: The Congress continues to rake up the Rafale deal, in a bid to keep the BJP on the backfoot, despite a Supreme Court “clean chit” and the controversy finding little resonance in the country’s rural areas.
Congress insiders say that party president Rahul Gandhi’s decision to keep the focus on alleged irregularities in the acquisition of the fighter jets is largely based on an internal survey, which shows that 85 per cent of those who have “heard of the Rafale deal” believe there is “something wrong” with it.
The survey, sources say, was conducted by the Congress’ data analytics team headed by Praveen Chakravarty between August and October last year, and covered around two lakh polling booths across the country.
“The survey was conducted across 2 lakh polling booths and covered lakhs of people,” said a senior Congress leader. “There were three categories of people whose responses were sought — voters, Congress workers and influencers. The survey was done door-to-door.”
Sources in the party, however, say only 50 per cent of those surveyed were aware of the Rafale issue, something that the Congress wants to improve on.
“We had conducted a survey on Rafale and found that those who have heard of it know that there’s some corruption. So, our job is to ensure more and more people hear about it,” said the Congress leader. “The overall awareness of Rafale as an issue is close to 50 per cent but it is growing drastically every day.”
According to sources, the findings of the survey were presented to the Congress’ Core Group committee comprising senior leaders A.K. Anthony, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh and P. Chidambaram among others. Following this, it was decided that the party will persist with the Rafale issue.
The Congress is now planning to conduct another survey to assess the situation after the Supreme Court verdict on the deal.
Also read: BJP sees silver lining as Congress ups ante on Rafale deal
Party to keep issue alive till elections
The Congress’ game-plan is to ensure that the Rafale issue is kept alive till the Lok Sabha elections this year.
As such, Gandhi has formed a six-member task force comprising Jaipal Reddy, Shakti Singh Gohil, Arjun Modwadia, Pawan Khera, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Jaiveer Shergill to address press conferences, hold protests and keep the issue alive.
The party will also continue to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the issue.
“There are gaping anomalies in the way the deal was finalised and it is a case of outright corruption. The Supreme Court’s verdict has ended up further exposing the Modi government as the government affidavit was full of misinformation,” said Pawan Khera, a senior Congress leader.
“Rahul Gandhi had started it but today, opposition parties are on board. Even NDA allies such as the Shiv Sena have begun demanding a probe.”
BJP unperturbed
The BJP’s perception of the public receptiveness of the allegations, however, is in stark contrast to the Congress. Saffron party leaders believe that people are so convinced of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s integrity that they won’t believe the opposition’s allegations.
The Congress’ decision to rake up the Rafale deal even after the Supreme Court’s “clean chit” only gives the BJP an opportunity to rake up Bofors scandal and alleged National Herald and AgustaWestland scams, claim ruling party leaders.
That was the reason, they say, that the government agreed to hold a debate on this issue in Parliament.
Also read: Individual perception can’t be basis of fishing enquiry: What Supreme Court said on Rafale deal
Overusing Rafale will be counter productive unless some evidence gets gathered. Unlike Bofors, The Hindu first and then other media took it forward helped Rajiv Gandhi’s downfall. At this point media is very scarred as it is managed by industrialist and businessmen and they don’t want get under scanner of government agencies which is getting used against those who are speaking against Modi and his government.
Ericsson is asking the SC to put Anil Ambani in jail because he has again failed to pay back Ericsson’s 550 crores; this says something about Anil Ambani’s final strength. Then, there was a news item about a month ago that Indian Navy has invoked Anil Ambani’s bank guarantee because his company was not able to supply a coast guard boat; this speaks something about Anil Ambani’s technical expertise.
Against this background, Congress and other opposition parties are asking why this gentleman was entrusted to manufacture the ultra hi-tech aircraft Rafale, instead of the time-tested HAL.
If the opposition sticks to its guns, then why 85%, full 100% of voters will believe that something big is wrong with the Rafale deal as conducted by Modi government.
All issues should be debated in Parliament. Occasionally, a JPC should also be constituted, as was done for something as escoteric as pesticides in colas. Parliamentary procedures have evolved over three generations. The ruling party has contributed to some of them, like holding that disruption is a legitimate parliamentary tactic and demanding ministerial resignations at the first hint of propriety. The world does not change when one party comes to power. This sense of exceptionalism has run its course. Presiding officers too should attempt to appear impartial.
… hint of impropriety.