Bereft of the issues to counter the Modi government with and to hide his own failure as a leader and a politician, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has tried to make Rafale deal as some sort of misguided crusade which, he naively believes, can propel him to the post of Prime Minister come 2019 General Elections. Unfortunately, every accusation he came up with has been thoroughly debunked. The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the deal and it became apparent to everyone except the Gandhi scion that calling Rafale deal a ‘scam’ would yield absolutely no political dividends. Still, he has kept insisting on the fictional scam, coming up with self-contradictory, outright false and simply invented facts pertaining to this ‘scam’.
To counter the propaganda being peddled against the Rafale deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took Rahul Gandhi to task and effectively destroyed every single claim Rahul Gandhi made regarding the ‘scam’, on the floor of the parliament as well as in the media.
Rahul Gandhi knows very well that he cannot win in a logical and sensible debate against Defence Minister, so now he is resorting to personal attacks against the minister. On Monday, Rahul Gandhi said: “She is not the Defence Minister. She is the spokesperson of the ministry..she is the spokesperson of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” He also accused the defence minister of lying. On Twitter, he said, “When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one. In her eagerness to defend the PM’s Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament. Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL. Or resign.”
When you tell one lie, you need to keep spinning out more lies, to cover up the first one.
In her eagerness to defend the PM's Rafale lie, the RM lied to Parliament.
Tomorrow, RM must place before Parliament documents showing 1 Lakh crore of Govt orders to HAL.
Or resign. pic.twitter.com/dYafyklH9o
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 6, 2019
The Defence Minister was quick to respond with facts.
Please read the complete report in @timesofindia to which you ( @RahulGandhi )are referring: “However, as the LS record shows, Sitharaman did not claim the orders were signed, saying they were in the works.” | India News – Times of India https://t.co/2v6MAZ2t3o
— Nirmala Sitharaman (Modi Ka Parivar) (@nsitharaman) January 6, 2019
She later asked him to start from ABCs.
Dear Shri @RahulGandhi , looks like you really need to start from ABCs.
Someone like you who is hellbent on misleading the public will quote an article even before reading it. https://t.co/D6osVZfDU9
— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) January 6, 2019
Following the example set by Rahul Gandhi, another Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala resorted to personal attacks against Nirmala Sitharaman: “The Lying Defence Minister’s Lies Gets Exposed!
The Lying Defence Minister’s Lies Gets Exposed!
Def Min claimed that procurement orders worth ₹1 Lakh Cr provided to HAL!
HAL says Not a SINGLE PAISA has come, as Not a SINGLE ORDER has been signed!
For the first time,HAL forced to take a loan of ₹1000 Cr to pay salaries! pic.twitter.com/IzoRvHW1VM
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 6, 2019
It’s quite evident that a vicious hate campaign is being carried out against the Defence Minister. She has made a statement in the parliament and if the Congress thinks that Nirmala Sitharaman is lying then why they are not moving a privilege motion against her? What’s stopping them to do so? Lying is a habit of Congress leaders, and its party president is master of lies and misinformation. His speech and allegations look more like a compilation of Whatsapp forwards than a strategic and detailed attack on the experienced central government leadership. Nirmala Sitharaman, on Monday, rightly offered to arrange a “tutor” for the Congress chief to “get his facts right”, and Gandhi scion should accept the offer.
On Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during her speech in Lok Sabha, countered the accusations on Rafale with facts and figures. She said, “In 2019, regarding procurement order regarding HAL, I had mentioned that there are 83 LCA Tejas fighters order worth Rs 50,000 crores, 15 combat helicopters order worth Rs 3,000 crores, 200 orders worth Rs 20,000 crore and 19 Dornier transport aircraft worth Rs 3,400 crores, helicopters worth Rs 15,000 crore and aero-engines worth Rs 8,400 crores. The total comes to Rs 1 lakh crore.” She also added, “I would like to lay doubts to rest by adding that I have received confirmation that during 2014-2018 contracts amounting to Rs 26800 Rs were signed with HAL and orders worth Rs 73,000 crore approximately are in the pipeline.”
In response, Congress chief once again accused her of lying and made the remark about her middle-class background.
It is unfortunate how the prime-ministerial candidate of India’s one of the oldest parties is behaving like a lowly troll. The desperation and frustration of Rahul Gandhi led party was evident in their despicable behavior during the debate in parliament. However, the personal attacks on the Defence Minister with regard to her middle-class background by an elitist dynast marked a new low in the political discourse. Rahul Gandhi has forgotten that the electorate does not take kindly to this downing of the political decorum and decency by a man which aspires to lead the nation.