Rahul Gandhi attacks Centre over non-bullet proof vehicles for soldiers

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked the government over provision of non-bullet proof vehicles for soldiers, while spending Rs 8,400 crore to procure aircraft for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Is this justice?" he asked on Twitter along with a video of a purported conversation between soldiers being transported in non-bullet proof vehicles.

"Our jawans are being sent in non-bullet proof trucks to get martyred and a Rs 8,400 crore aircraft is brought for the PM! Is this justice," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

The video shows a conversation between soldiers objecting to their transportation in a non-bullet proof vehicle, while their seniors were using bullet-proof vehicles.

They also complained that by doing so their lives were being compromised and the authorities were playing with their and their families' lives.

Gandhi had earlier attacked Modi over the acquisition of VVIP aircraft and wondered how many things could have been bought for the soldiers stationed in Siachen-Ladakh border in the amount spent on the planes.

During his campaign in Punjab against the farm reform laws, the Congress leader on Tuesday had accused the prime minister of "wasting" thousands of crores of rupees on the aircraft.

The government has brought two VVIP planes for travel of the President, Prime Minister and Vice President, even as it maintained that the process for procuring the two aircraft had begun under the UPA government, and the current dispensation has only brought it to a logical conclusion.