Continuing their attack on the National Democratic Alliance government, Congress accused prime minister, Narendra Modi of just keeping himself engaged in image building exercise and that too at the cost of both external as well as internal security of the country. The Party also questioned Modi over his recent fighter jet plane deal with France and said the government has earned the epithet of “Badte rahe seema par var, aisi hai Modi sarkar.”
“During past one year, Narendra Modi had just engaged himself on his image building missing in the overseas country but what concerned us that the same was made at the cost of both external as well as internal security. The country’s security is under threat as 746 incidents of ceasefire violations took place since Narendra Modi took charge, as against 96 in the last entire regime of Congress led United Progressive Alliance,” quipped general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Mukul Wasnik.
Reminding Modi of his statement during election campaign that once he would become PM, he will teach the enemies a lesson and not let country’s head down. Taking a dig at Modi’s 56-inch chest remark, Wasnik said, “Modi used to say that Manmohan Singh-led government was weak in dealing with border security issues. I want to ask what has happened to your 56-inch chest now. Why the leader who is known for his ‘Badbole (over speak) on every issue in now silent on ceasefire violationIJ” questioned Wasnik adding that Modi had to reply to the nation that why he was silent on the issues concerning the external and internal security.
Further making a frontal attack on Modi, Congress leader claimed that NDA government has also put the national security at stake by drastically reducing defense sector spending. “Out of the total sanctioned budget for defence, Modi government has not utilised more than Rs 28,000 crore. Thus, the defense spending remained just 86 per cent. Such failure in defense spending has put our national security and national interest at stake,” claimed Wasnik.
He also accused the BJP government of curtailing spending on Mountain Strike Corps (MSC), which was created during UPA rule to keep a vigil on Indo-China border. “MSC was created under UPA government. We have allocated Rs 85,000 crore for it and 90,000 jawans are to be employed in it. However, in a shocking compromise of national interest, just three weeks ahead of Modi’s China visit, Defence Ministry reduced the strength and budget of Mountain Strike Corps by 50 per cent because of fund shortage. But we must not forget that China had raised serious concerns on formation of such corps,” he said.
Wasnik also questioned the manner in which Modi announced to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. “This could be the biggest scam of this government as no standard procedure is followed. It seems that the deal has been done for personal promotion,” he alleged. Wasnik cited that when UPA government was in power, they were also in the process of making Rafale Fighter Jets deal but due to objections raised by the BJP leader Yashwant Sinha as well as by Ministry of Finance, they stopped the process. However, now without clearing those objections, the deal was made even when India does not have an RsInter-Governmental Agreement’ with France, neither there is any clarity about the price and when the jets would be delivered. He also pointed that during UPA, they also decided to get into agreement with France that they would forward their technical expertise so that bulk of fighter jets could be manufactured in Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl). “Modi talks of Make in India but it was UPA which tried to promote that an Indian company should manufacture fighter jets and now overseas, as done by Modi by making an agreement”, asserted Wasnik.
The Congress leader also criticised the Government on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for retired Army personnel and asked why no money has been allocated for it yet. He accused BJP of playing vote bank politics by not fulfilling its commitment made to ex-servicemen and said it has been put into cold storage by the government. “The BJP government is playing vote bank politics over ‘One Rank One Pension’ issue. Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) thinks that there will be lesser political advantage to the party by doling out heavy sum of money by implementing One Rank One Pension.” he alleged.