In an extremely volatile environment within the four walls of the Parliament, debate commenced on the No Confidence Motion that was brought against the Modi government by TDP and was piggybacked on by Congress.
Rahul Gandhi, in a speech sans proof, accused the Modi government of indulging in a ‘scam’ in the Rafale deal. He said that there was no confidentiality clause which barred the government from discussing the terms and the price of the Rafale jets. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Defence Minister spoke next to refute his allegations and prove that the confidentiality clause was indeed signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.
But as is the nature of Congress party, the loyalists are almost bound by a code to shield every lie furthered by Rahul Gandhi. Even the suave Shashi Tharoor, who is now an accused in his wife’s mysterious death, resorted to lying and misrepresenting what the French President had said in an interview to India Today.
After Rahul’s speech, Shashi Tharoor took to social media to tweet the interview of French President with IndiaToday to allege that not only to Rahul Gandhi but even to IndiaToday, President Macron had said that the price of the Rafale jet is no secret. In the parliament, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that in a private conversation between Rahul and the French President, Macron had said that the price was no secret.
It seems @EmmanuelMacron didn’t just tell @RahulGandhi the price of the Rafale deal is no secret, he also told @IndiaToday : https://t.co/ljejhf0Cqm
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 20, 2018
It turns out, however, the Shashi Tharoor lied blatantly.
To quote from the very IndiaToday report shared by Shashi Tharoor:
He (Frend President Macron) said that a deal involves extremely sensitive business interests and it is not desirable to give out details of such a pact. The details of the commercial agreements should not be made known to rival companies as doing so may hamper the interests of the firms and hence, secrecy is justified.
Macron emphasised that secrecy clause is there because of commercial agreement related to technical issues. However, he gave an assurance that if the Modi government wanted to share some details, covered under the secrecy clause, with the Opposition parties to clear confusion and resolve political stalemate, French government would have no objection to it.
He termed the defence deal between India and France a pact signed in good environment. The Rafale deal is considered crucial for India’s defence preparedness in the coming years. Macron stated that the Rafale deal is the part of a comprehensive agreement between India and France in the field of defence cooperation.
While Macron, before this, had said that India can divulge details, but then he also made it obvious that such a move would be detrimental to both countries. In essence, he did say that the price of the jets and the terms of the deal were secret and a confidentiality clause did exist.
It is evident that the Congress is planning to repeat lies, hoping one would stick.
