New Delhi : Bharatiya Janata Party leader and union minister without portfolio Arun Jaitley on Saturday said Rahul Gandhi missed a great opportunity in Friday’s debate on the no-confidence motion, saying “those who desire to be the Prime Minister never blend ignorance, falsehood and acrobatics.”
For the president of a national party nourishing Prime Ministerial aspirations, every word he speaks should be precious but if this was his best argument for 2019, God help his party, Jaitley said in a blog.
Stating that hallucinations can give momentary pleasure to a person, Jaitley warned Rahul that “to hallucinate after an embarrassing performance that he has won future election…may give him self-satisfaction but for serious observers it is more than just self-praise – in fact a serious problem.”
Defending the government”s refusal to disclose the price at which PM Modi negotiated the Rafale aircraft deal, Jaitley said: “Cost gives away a clue to the weaponry in the aircraft.” He said Rahul insisting on disclosure of the financial details, which indirectly involves the disclosures of the strategic equipment on the aircraft, is to hurt national interest.
Jaitley said Rahul’s lack of understanding is not only confined to basic issues but also to the niceties of protocol. “One should never misquote a conversation with a Head of Government or a Head of State as you do it once, serious people will be reluctant to speak to you or speak in your presence.”
The BJP leader said that by concocting a conversation with French President Macron in Lok Sabha on Rafale aircraft deal, Rahul has lowered his own credibility and seriously hurt the image of an Indian politician before the world at large and further embarrassed former PM Mohan Singh by claiming that he was witness to the conversation, insinuating him that he was wholly unaware of the secrecy pact entered into by his own government.
On Rahul wanting petrol and diesel covered by the GST, Jaitley said that they would be certainly covered at an appropriate time. “But is he unaware of the fact that the proposed GST amendment to the Constitution never included petroleum products as part of the GST? It is only the DA which brought it within GST cover, with tax to be levied once agreed by the GST Council.”
Jaitley also challenged Rahul’s charge of the Modi government”s alleged attempt to change the Constitution. “There is no Minister who either desires to change or is constitutionally entitled to change the Constitution of India. The last Indian politician who wanted the power to change the Constitution was Rahul”s grandmother and she too failed,” he said.
Even in dynasties many successors remind you of the virtues of their predecessors. Yesterday I reread two of Panditji”s legendary speeches – ”Tryst with Destiny” and ”Light has gone out of Lives”.