Rafale deal: Arun Jaitley accuses Congress of manufactuing fake controversy

Even as the Congress party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" in Parliament on the Rafale deal, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the Congress party is creating fake controversy over the issue.

Jaitley has said that the Congress party is creating distortion by manufacturing fake controversy over Rafale as they have no other issue.

In a Facebook post, Jaitley said, "What does the party do if its leader has inherent and inbuilt limitations? It had been stigmatised by corruption and in contra-distinction Prime Minister Modi has led a scam free Government. Its strategy, therefore, is one of distortion. If you have no issue, manufacture one.  Hence the Rafale’s fake controversy."

Jaitley also said that Congress realises that there a danger of the next election becomes a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s performance. "The popularity gap between the Prime Minister and his competitors is very wide," he said.

Last week, after attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue in Lok Sabha, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged there was certainly a 'scam' in the controversial Rafale jet deal with France and accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of doing a "flip-flop" on the secrecy clause.

The Congress party says that revealing the "commercial cost" of Rafale aircraft will neither violate any "secrecy agreement" with the French government, nor disclose any classified or protected information.

The grand old party has been demanding that the government share details of the Rafale fighter aircraft price as it accused the Modi government of buying them at thrice the price negotiated by the UPA government for 126 aircraft. 

However, the government has rejected the demand, citing secrecy clause in the 2008 pact.

Here's what Jaitley said in a Facebook post

In 1989, there was an outrage in the whole country against the Congress Party and its leadership on the Bofors issue. The Congress Party’s strategists invented a counter strategy of diversion by creating a fake issue. A bank account in St. Kitts was created in the name of Shri V.P. Singh’s son so that the Congress could now have a face saving argument – if we are corrupt, so are you. In 1999, when the NDA led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the backdrop of the Kargil conflict, was likely to sweep the poll, and the Congress Party was faced with a massive defeat, it manufactured an issue of sugar export to Pakistan. Some two dozen press conferences on the issue were organised to question the Government’s commitment to nationalism. The truth of the allegation was that a mid-level unknown Chandni Chowk trader had been exporting an OGL item -sugar to Pakistan.

The Congress party and the present political situation

► The Congress Party is either non-existent or a poor third or fourth in States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, parts of North-East, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.  These States account for 50% of the Lok Sabha seats.  Of the balance seats, if it enters into some form of alliance, it may have to concede seats in several States to its allies.  It is, therefore, faced with the prospect of effectively contesting only about 225 seats where it will face a direct clash with the BJP.

► If the first part of the Congress Mukt Bharat was scripted by the BJP, the federal front is more than eager to script the part-2 of the same.  Its message to the Congress is clear – ‘you will have to support us; the other way is not possible.’  For the Congress the best case scenario is to become a tail-ender of the federal front and concede to it a large political space.

► Many in the Congress realise that 2019 is not their election.  They should try and improve but concentrate as a priority on 2024.  However, mid-level leaders of the Congress in the age group of 65 to 74 are unwilling to wait for 2024.  They know that 2019 is their last chance and they will probably be time-barred by 2024.  They are quite willing for a tail-ender’s role.

► Its attack on the economy are failing since India, under the Modi regime, continues to be the fastest growing major economy in the world.  The Congress Party’s strategy of consolidating arithmetic against Prime Minister Modi’s chemistry is a double edged weapon for the Congress.  It can push the Congress to the margins with the federal front occupying the opposition’s space.   The Congress strategy

► What does the party do if its leader has inherent and inbuilt limitations?  It had been stigmatised by corruption and in contra-distinction Prime Minister Modi has led a scam free Government.  Its strategy, therefore, is one of distortion.  If you have no issue, manufacture one.  Hence the Rafale’s fake controversy.

► The Congress’s strategy is, therefore, two-fold.  It has manufactured the issue of the Rafale deal.  The issue is failing to cut much ice.  It’s a Government to Government agreement with no private group involved.  It involves national security and it is the armed forces which have preferred this aircraft for its improved combat ability.  The UPA Ministers also never disclosed the cost breakup of the weaponry because that is not in larger national interest.  The supplier/ OEM manufacturers of defence equipment appoint their own offset manufacturers.  The Government has nothing to do with it.  The truth always holds together.  It is falsehood that falls apart.  So when Rahul Gandhi’s statement that President Macron told him that there is no secrecy pact got smashed into pieces, the next day the Congress Party shifted the Rafale issue to other extraneous grounds.  

►The second strategy of the Congress Party is directed against the federal front.  By attacking the BJP on certain issues, it is engaged in an implied battle with the federal front in order to reclaim the minority vote.  Comparison of Hindus with ‘Taliban’ and phrases such as ‘Hindu Pakistan’ are intended to help it against the federal front to reclaim the minority vote.  This strategy also is likely to backfire.  As equal participants in the Indian electoral process, the minorities have a constitutional right of a vote.  But so does the majority.  By redefining secularism as a euphemism for majority bashing, the Congress Party is antagonising the majority against itself.  This will always happen in an election where you have an inadequate leader and no real issue.