Amit Shah slams congress after Rafale aircraft deal verdict

BJP president Amit Shah today claimed that the verdict on Rafale deal has only served to vindicate the Union government’s stand that there was no corruption or nepotism in the case, he made the statement shortly after the Supreme Court refused to ‘sit in judgment, on the Rafale aircraft deal. Adding to his comment, he also demanded that the Congress should apologise for raising ‘childish allegations’ against the Narendra Modi government, and disclose its source of information on the matter.

Soon afte the verdict was delivered, Mr Shah took to his twitter handle and posted, “Truth always triumphs! Court’s judgment on the Rafale deal exposes the campaign of misinformation spearheaded by Congress President for political gains. The court didn’t find anything wrong with the process, nor did it find any commercial favouritism in the deal.”

The BJP President also noted that the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had rejected allegations that the centre coerced the French government into picking industrialist Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence for the deal.
He further added, “On the contrary, the SC held that govt had no role in selecting offset partners and found no merit in the demand for a probe based on mere perception of individuals. It, therefore, raises obvious questions on the motive of those working to discredit the deal, which is important for India.”

To be noted, the verdict which was passed by the apex court today, stated that it found no merit in allegations of corruption in the Narendra Modi government’s Rs 59,000 crore deal for 36 Rafale jets, bringing massive relief to the ruling BJP. The staement read: “There is no evidence of commercial favouritism either,” the judges said, asserting that the “perception by individuals cannot be the subject of roving inquiry.”

While Addressing the media later, Amit Shah questioned the Congress’ right to question the BJP on the Rafale deal when the opposition party itself is plagued by a ‘history of corruption’. He said, “For so long, they kept saying that the country’s watchman is a thief, but the truth has finally been revealed,” and warned the Opposition not to do mud-slinging.

However, Congress leaders have refused to see the court ruling as a ‘setback’. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “The government gave the Supreme Court one-sided, half-baked information on the Rafale deal… We have said that the Supreme Court cannot decide on the Rafale issue, only a probe by a joint parliamentary committee probe can do that after examining all the files and notings,” and he also added that they will continue to insist on such a probe.

The petition against the Rafale deal was filed by two lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda, besides Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Sanjay Singh; former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie; and activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

In the monsoon Parliament session, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had claimed that French aeronautics major Dassault chose Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as an offset partner despite its inexperience in the field just to bag India’s order.

Also read: Rafale deal hearing: Supreme Court dismisses bunch of petitions demanding probe