india

Updated: Feb 10, 2019 23:12 IST

Union minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday questioned the Congress’s allegations about irregularities in purchase of the Rafale aircraft and the Centre’s interference with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s functioning. He said over the last two months there have been several “fake campaigns”. Jaitley added it was about time that India and its institutions are protected from these “institution wreckers”.

In a Facebook titled Institutions Under Attack – The Latest Fabrication, Jaitley, who returned from the US after medical treatment on Saturday, cited Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s two speeches on Rafale and added they were based “on a personal hatred” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi “emanating from envy”. The context of the speeches points more to “college-level lumpenisation in content”, he said. “A failed student always hates the class topper,” he wrote.

He said the Rafale deal not only strengthens the Indian Air Force’s combat ability but saved thousands of crores for the exchequer. “When its falsehood collapsed, its creators by producing half a document lost their full credibility. They forgot that truth always prevails,” he said.

Jaitley insisted the government does not interfere in any investigative function of CBI or any other investigative agency. He said restoring the credibility of an investigative agency is strengthening the institution and not assaulting it. Jaitley said the Congress governments have in the past been liberal in asking Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governors to quit. The government legitimately flags the issues relating to liquidity and credit availability with the RBI, Jaitley said.

“There are two critical features of these new emerging breed of institution protectors. They criticise the government the maximum and simultaneously argue that the free speech is in danger,’’ Jaitley said.

He accused the Congress of organising loot on the banks between 2008-2014 and added it is now alleging that industrial loans had been waived. “Not a single rupee was waived. On the contrary, the defaulters have been thrown out of management and Congress’s falsehood was exposed,” he said.

Jaitley said the Opposition’s attack on the Electronic Voting Machines is not merely to allay defeat, it is an attack on the Election Commission.

He said it is the Opposition which questioned first the existence of the surgical strike and then played it down as a routine action which has also taken place in the past. Jaitley said each one of the “fake campaigns” failed to cut much ice. “Falsehood doesn’t have longevity. The ‘compulsive contrarians’ continued to jump from one falsehood to another,” he said.