Rajnath slams Rahul over Rafale jet remark
COUNTER-ATTACK Defence minister accuses Cong of internationalising the Kashmir issue
BAWANI KHERA (HARYANA): Defence minister Rajnath Singh hit back at the Opposition on Thursday for criticising him over performing shastra puja (weapon worship) on the first Rafale fighter jet handed over to India in France this week.
Worshipping weapons during the festive period is a tradition and there’s nothing wrong with the practice, Singh said.
“When I wrote Om on the Rafale jet, people said why did he write (the word). I would like to ask Rahul Gandhi if not Om, what should I have written on the aircraft,” Singh was quoted as saying at an election rally in Haryana by news agency ANI.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that the defence minister had gone to Paris to receive delivery of the first Rafale jet because there was “guilt” in the minds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders over the ~ 59,000 crore deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France.
“It seems the Rafale deal is still hurting the BJP. Why else would Rajnath Singh go to France to receive the first jet,” Gandhi said, referring to the purchase in which he had, in the campaign for the April-May Lok Sabha polls, alleged corruption -- a charge denied by both the BJP and the Narendra Modi government.
Meanwhile, addressing a poll rally, Singh brought up a meeting between Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn with representatives of the Congress in London and said they held discussions on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. “I want to ask Congress leaders where human rights violations are taking place. Human rights violations were taking place when terrorist activities were occurring (in Kashmir). Why did not you speak at that time?” he asked the Congress party. “I want a reply from the Congress. Kashmir is our internal matter. Will there be a discussion on it in other countries... Will you be discussing Kashmir matter in other countries?” Singh asked. The defence minister said many people had lost their lives in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and slammed the Congress for not giving its attention to the issue at that time.
Singh had received the first Rafale jet from France on behalf of the Indian Air Force recently. At the handover ceremony, he performed a puja on the jet, inscribed it with an Om sign and then took a 35-minute sortie in the two-seater aircraft.
The opposition was quick to target Singh, with Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge calling the gesture an act of “theatrics”. NCP chief Sharad Pawar drew a parallel between the Rafale shastra puja and the lemon and chilli hung by truck drivers on their vehicles to ward off the “evil eye”.
Some Congress leaders saw it differently. Former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said shastra puja cannot be called a “tamasha” (hullabaloo) and was an old tradition. .