Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Vrindavan today on the occasion of serving the 3 billionth meal by Akshaya Patra Foundation at Vrindavan Mandir premises. The PM also unveiled a ceremonial plaque to mark the occasion of serving the 3 billionth meal by Akshaya Patra. Speaking on the occasion, Modi read out a shloka in Sanskrit from Shrimadbhagvad Gita which if translated to Hindi would read, “जो दान कर्तव्य समझकर बिना किसी उपकार की भावना से, उचित स्थान से, उचित समय पर योग्य व्यक्ति को दिया जाता है, उसे सात्विक दान कहते हैं”.
Modi praised the Akshaya Patra for serving food to underprivileged children for the last 18 years. He recalled that the first meal of Akshaya Patra was served during the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Encouraging the people associated with Akhshaya Patra Modi said that everyone in this organisation ranging from a cook to those serving the food are doing a service to nation. “Just like a strong foundation is required for strong building to stand over it, similarly for a new empowered India the children need to me healthy and well-fed,” said Modi stressing the need of providing nutrition to children.
जिस प्रकार मजबूत इमारत के लिए नींव का ठोस होना जरूरी है, उसी प्रकार शक्तिशाली नए भारत के लिए पोषित और स्वस्थ बचपन जरूरी है: पीएम नरेन्द्र मोदी https://t.co/46qmHSTebv
Modi spoke about various schemes started by the government over the last 55 months in the direction of ensuring health of every mother and child.Talking about the success of Mission Indradhanush Modi said, “Mission Indradhanush has been included among twelve best practice by a popular medical journal”. Laying emphasis on the role of cleanliness, Modi referred to an international report which, as claimed by him, estimated that the Swachchh Bharat Campaign and the use of toilets can save the lives of up to 3 lakh people.
मिशन इंद्रधनुष को आज दुनियाभर में सराहा जा रहा है।
हाल में ही एक मशहूर मेडिकल जर्नल ने इस कार्यक्रम को दुनिया की 12 Best Practices में चुना है: पीएम @narendramodi
He also pointed out that the Kumbh Mela, which until was now known for Naga sadhus, has this time sent out a message of cleanliness to the world. He mentioned that the New York Times has published a report on cleanliness in the Kumbh Mela.
इस बार कुम्भ के मेले ने देश को स्वच्छता का संदेश देने में सफलता पाई है। आम तौर पर कुम्भ में नागा बाबाओं की चर्चा होती है, पहली बार न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स ने कुम्भ की स्वच्छता को लेकर रिपोर्ट की है: पीएम @narendramodi
Speaking on cows, Modi said that cow has been an important part of our culture and tradition and it has been crucial for the economy of our villages. He pointed out that Mathura has had a rich tradition of service of cows. Modi said that his government has decided to expand the Rashtriya Gokul Mission stared by it earlier. And under the recent budget, the government has also envisaged a Rashtriya Kamdhenu Ayog and has made provision of 500 crore rupees for it. To support cattle rearing, banks will now provide a loan of up to Rs 3 lakh through Kisan Credit Card.
पशुपालकों की मदद के लिए अब बैंकों के दरवाजे खोल दिए गए हैं। अब बैंकों से 3 लाख रुपये तक का ऋण मिल सकता है। इससे हमारे तमाम पशुपालकों को लाभ मिलने वाला है: पीएम श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी
Modi highlighted that the benefits set out in the budget for small farmers will mostly benefit the farmers in Uttar Pradesh as most farmers here are small farmers. He concluded by lauding the efforts of Akshaya Patra calling it the best example of collective efforts.
A team of custom department and police in Purnia, Bihar seized a huge cache of live cartridges and the spare parts of the Myanmar Army’s three AK-47 rifles and two under-barrel grenade launchers (UBGLs) after breaking the doors, dashboard, roof, seats and footsteps of a Tata Safari car, which was seized from Baisi district in Purnia on February 7.
The vehicle was intercepted in Baisi district by the police patrolling team suspecting illegal liquor smuggling on Thursday.
According to the Additional Director General of Police (headquarters), Kundan Krishnan, during the routine checking, the police officials initially found 600 live cartridges in the vehicle. On the basis of which they arrested three arms smugglers- V R Kahornagam, Clearson Kavo (both from Ukhrul in Manipur) and Suraj Prasad from Pipra Basant in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Following the State police headquarters instruction, thorough checking of the vehicle was initiated after which the police further recovered various parts of unassembled AK-47 and UBGLs and 1000 additional cartridges which were hidden in specially built boxes inside the vehicle.
Image of one of the 1600 live cartridges recovered, courtesy: Aaj Tak
It is being suspected that these weapons were to be used to carry out violent acts before the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
During interrogation, the three arrested persons confessed that they used to supply arms and weapons to Mukesh Singh of Patna and Santosh Singh of Bhojpur, Kundan Krishnan (ADGP) said.
The police raided Mukesh Singh’s house in Patna on Saturday and seized 50 cartridges, he said. Mukesh has been absconding since then, Kundan confirmed.
Unassembled parts of arms belonging to Myanmar Army, courtesy: Aaj Tak
Bihar police are also contemplating of handing over the case to the Central agency as arms had the ‘MA’ mark engraved which shows that the arms belonged to the Myanmar Army and have been smuggled into India, the ADGP added.
Hitherto known to be a hub of illegal arms manufacturing, Bihar police had in October last year busted a large scale arms smuggling racket in Bihar, and had recovered several AK-47 rifles and hundreds of spare parts stashed away in wells, river beds and abandoned houses across the state. The rifles were smuggled to Bihar’s Munger district.
Meanwhile, Munger district in Bihar which has infamously emerged as the centre of such illegal manufacturing of high-quality advanced arms and ammunition for the last several decades had been in news for yet another huge arms smuggling racket involving smuggling of weapons condemned by the Army in December last year.
Munger is infamous for its illegal arms factories. Munger police have earlier busted one such racket involving a nexus between officers of Jabalpur’s Central Ordnance Depot and local arms dealers.
After publishing a cropped note from the defence ministry to show that the ministry was against the Rafale deal, today The Hindu has come with another story in an attempt to derail the purchase of much-needed fighter jets by Indian Air Force.
In a story titled Government waived anti-corruption clauses in Rafale deal, veteran journalist N Ram alleges that Modi government bypassed standard procedures in inking the Rafale deal. It has come up with another note from the defence ministry, where the Financial Advisor (DS) was opposing the waiver of sovereign/bank guarantee in the deal signed with France. The not also says that in the absence of sovereign/bank guarantee, the French government should be involved in the deal, and the payments should be made to an Escrow account controlled by the French government, from where the payments should be released to the vendors as per terms and conditions.
N Ram writes that Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by the then Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, met in September 2016, and ratified and approved eight changes in the IGA, supply protocols, offset contracts and offset schedules. This goes against the ongoing narrative that defence ministry was kept out of the loop in the deal and everything was handled by PMO. He says that change of these terms is a violation of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), 2013, under which the deal was signed.
The article also says that provisions for anti-corruption penalties and making payments through an escrow account.
But it seems N Ram missed the section in DPP 2013 which is crucial for this deal. The Rafale deal is an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between the governments of India and France, and the section about the IGA in the DPP has been completely ignored in the Hindu report.
Section 71 of the DPP states that:
There may be occasions when procurements would have to be done from friendly foreign countries which may be necessitated due to geo-strategic advantages that are likely to accrue to our country. Such procurements would not classically follow the Standard Procurement Procedure and the Standard Contract Document but would be based on mutually agreed provisions by the Governments of both the countries. Such procurements will be done based on an Inter Governmental Agreement after clearance from CFA.
Section 71 of DPP 2013
The DPP 2013, which was prepared during the UPA government, clearly states that in case of Inter-Governmental Agreements, Standard Procurement Procedure and Standard Contract Document will not apply and such deals will be done on mutually agreed terms of both the countries. Therefore, the government to government deal of the Rafale jet also involved changes in certain provisions of DPP, which was duly approved by the Defence Acquisition Council, the highest body supervising defence acquisitions in the country.
Section 72 of the DPP 2013 says that when an Inter Government Agreement is signed with a foreign nation, this agreement will safeguard the interests of the Govt of India. This implies that a separate sovereign/bank guarantee may not be required in the case of an IGA.
Section 75 of DPP 2013
Section 75 of the DPP 2013 says that “any deviation from the prescribed procedure will be put up to DAC through DPB for approval”. This means in the interest of a particular deal, the deviation from the standard procedure is possible, provided it approved by the DAC. The Hindu article itself says that the deviations from the standard procedure was duly approved, so this means provisions of DPP 2013 was followed in signing the Rafale deal.
N Ram says that “the DPP stating explicitly that the Standard Contract Document would be the guideline for all acquisitions”, but the fact is that the same DPP allows diversion from Standard Contract Document in case of Inter Governmental Agreements in section 71, which makes the Rafale deal eligible for such diversion.
Now let’s come to the specific note The Hindu has published this time. At the first it must be noted that like the earlier note, this dissent note is also written by someone who was not part of the Indian Negotiation Team (INT) for the Rafale deal. Therefore, the officer may not be aware of the all details about the deals. Second, only the note without what was the response to it means nothing. This is same as N Ram publishing the earlier cropping the vital response of Defence minister.
When negotiations and discussions take place, lots of ideas are exchanged. Many points are raised, many of them are rejected by some, and ultimately a final decision is taken. After a final decision is taken with the consensus of all, the disagreements during the discussion phase cease to matter. Many of such disagreements or doubts may have been resolved or clarified already. Therefore, such dissent notes during the discussion phase of the Rafale deal does not mean that there was some major scam in the deal. It just means that healthy democratic discussion process took place while finalising the deal.
Air Marshal SBP Sinha,who headed Rafale negotiations from Indian side:Some notes being selectively picked up to prove a point.Fact is none of them are linked to Indian negotiating team. Indian negotiating team has forwarded its final report signed by all 7 members without dissent pic.twitter.com/OkynTx2355
Air Marshal SBP Sinha headed the INT for the Rafale deal, and he has already clarified that the final report was submitted by the team with signature of all the seven members, without any dissent. He has also pointed out that the notes being selectively published are from such persons who were not part of the negotiation team.
Coming to the anti-corruption clause, that is applicable for a direct deal with private companies only, where there are possibilities of bribes and middleman. In Inter Governmental Agreements, such clauses are waived as per the provisions of DPP, and hence there are no illegalities in that as N Ram wants to suggest.
Rafale is not the first Inter Governmental Agreement India has signed, before this such deals were signed with Russia and USA. And similar waivers were granted in those agreements too. The deal for Sukhoi jet that India signed with Russia had also waived the bank guarantee and anti-corruption clause, which was signed by Congress government.
Air Marshal SBP Sinha,who headed Rafale negotiations from Indian side,on anti-corruption clause in govt to govt contract:Till now,we had ‘govt to govt’ contract with America&Russia. It’s the 3rd ‘govt to govt’ contract, which is with France. Such clause isn’t there in any of them pic.twitter.com/0BKnCZLYpP
Air Marshal SBP Sinha has further clarified that anti-corruption clause was not there in any of the Inter Governmental Agreements that India had signed earlier, and Rafale is not the first deal to have such an exemption. To claim that such routine exemption for a government to government is nothing by a lie to derail the Rafale deal.
Coming to the allegation that Modi government discarded suggestion for payment to an Escrow account managed by France government and is making payments directly to Dassault, this completely wrong. The Indian government has signed the deal with the French government, and hence the payments are also being made to the French government only. In December last year, the government of India had announced that it was making a payment of 25% of the deal value to the government of France.
According to reports, the French government has set up a treasury account in their national bank to receive proceeds from India, and payments will be released to vendors only after verification of the progress of the deal. There is no direct payment to Dassault or MBDA, and all payments are made to French government-controlled bank account only. This means that the allegations that the government of India is making payments directly to vendors are incorrect. It also shows that the official raising the objection was perhaps not aware of the detail of the deal.
Fearing action from the parliamentary committee, the micro-blogging site Twitter has sent its Director, Policy for South Asia, Mahima Kaul to represent the organisation in the committee hearing as they were summoned over the issue of safeguarding citizens’ rights on social media platforms.
The Parliamentary Committee on IT headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur had summoned Twitter officials on 11th February along with the officials of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to present their views regarding the issue of bias towards the right-wing twitter accounts.
Initially, the micro-blogging site officials displayed their arrogance by refusing to appear before the Parliamentary Committee citing “short notice of the hearing”. It seems that Twitter has obliged to appear before the committee after BJP MP Anurag Thakur, head of the committee had issued a statement saying that appropriate action will be taken against them for failing to respect summons issued by the parliamentary committee.
Twitter will be represented by its South Asia Director Mahima Kaul (@misskaul) and other officials. Mahima Kaul, who has been appointed to head the policy division of Twitter, has been known for her anti-Modi and pro-Rahul inclinations which has been indicated by her tweets in the past further proving the left-leaning bias of the platform.
The mysterious behavior of Twitter which is often found censoring social media users for disagreeing to left-wing and ultra left-wing ideology at the time of crucial general elections has angered several users. With opposition parties and Lutyens media ecosystem backed by the Congress party indulging in false narratives and propaganda, right-wing users have expressed fear that more fake news may emerge in the social media platforms.
It is also accused that several prominent right-wing accounts are shadow-banned by Twitter. This means while the account is not blocked or suspended, the Tweets posted by that account do not appear on the timeline of the followers of that accounts. Tweets from such ‘shadow-banned’ accounts do not appear in search results also, effectively meaning that tweets of such persons remain invisible to users unless they visit the Twitter account page of such persons.
Former Uttar Pradesh MLA from the Congress party, Imran Masood, who had allegedly threatened to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces” ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was part of Priyanka Gandhi’s first roadshow in Lucknow, Indian Express has reported.
Imran Masood who had threatened to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces” joins Priyanka Gandhi’s roadshowhttps://t.co/Kif4EWlNNH
The report stated that Masood was in the luxury bus with Priyanka, Rahul, Jyotiraditya Scindia, PL Poonia and others. He was the Congress candidate from Saharanpur in 2014 when he had declared in a public rally that he will “chop Narendra Modi into pieces”.
The Congress party and its allies have a long history of making deplorable personal attacks against the Prime Minister and getting away without any punishment from the higher-ups in the party.
Only this morning, TDP workers put up posters at their chief Naidu’s protest against Modi which read “Jiske Haath Mein Chai ka Jhoota cup Dena Tha, Uske Haath Mein Janata Ne Desh De Diya”, that translates to ‘the person who should have been given a used teacup, has been given the country by the people”.
The campaign for the Assembly Elections in 2018 saw another string of abuses from Opposition leaders. Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Raj Babbar used the devaluing rupee to mock the PM’s mother. Babbar had said, “He (Modi) used to say that the Indian rupee has fallen so much against the Dollar that it was nearing the age of the then prime minister (Manmohan Singh). Today, the rupee’s valuation has dropped so low, that it is inching closer to your beloved mother’s age”.
Earlier, senior Congress leader C.P. Joshi had hurled casteist slurs at Narendra Modi. In a video that went viral, Joshi could be heard saying that only Brahmins had the right and knowledge to speak about Hinduism. And since Prime Minister Modi belongs to a lower caste, he cannot talk about Hinduism.
In Rajasthan, Congress MLA Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya had abused PM Narendra Modi in the filthiest of language. The abuses were hurled when the Congress politician was speaking at a public rally.
Prior to the Assembly elections in Gujarat, Mani Shankar Aiyer had called him ‘Neech’. Sonia Gandhi during her tenure as President of the Congress party had once called Modi ‘Maut ka Saudagar’ (the merchant of death).
Despite Congress President Rahul Gandhi spinning tales of the ‘politics of love’ that he envisions, he has shown remarkable tolerance for those who make extremely distasteful remarks against the Prime Minister of India. Imran Masood’s presence at Priyanka Gandhi’s rally only shows that the more things change with the Congress party, the more they remain the same.
The apex court of the country has refused to constitute a monitoring team to review the CBI probe into the Saradha Chit-fund scam. A two-judge bench, comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna rejected the petition filed by the disgruntled investors in the Saradha Chit-fund.
Hearing on the petition filed by some private investors who had lost their savings in the chit-fund scam, the Supreme Court reposed its faith in the country’s premier investigative agency claiming that they are not inclined to set up a monitoring committee to monitor the chit fund scam probe.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC which was allegedly trying to impede the CBI’s investigation into the Saradha Chit-fund scam recently managed to stir a face-off between the Kolkata police and the CBI officials in the state of West Bengal can be attributed to. Mamata Banerjee had then sat on a dharna to allegedly protect Kolkata Commissioner who is accused of destroying key evidence against the perpetrators of the Saradha Chit-fund scam.
Several opposition parties came in the support of Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government. However, when the CBI approached the Supreme Court to resolve the imbroglio, the court issued a contempt notice to the Kolkata commissioner Rajeev Kumar ordering him to appear before the CBI in Shillong and co-operate with them to bring the perpetrators to book, Mamata Banerjee called off her dharna citing ‘Moral Victory’.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of India directed the National Commission for Minorities to decide on a representation to define ‘minorities’ and lay down guidelines for identifying minorities at state-level in three months time, reported Live Law.
According to reports, the petition was filed in the Supreme Court by BJP leader and advocate Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay seeking minority status for Hindus in seven states and one Union Territory where the number of the community has fallen down as per the Census 2011 data.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi hearing the petition has now asked Upadhyay to re-file his representation to the minority panel and directed the commission to take a decision within three months from Monday.
The petitioner has claimed the failure of the commission to reply to his representation and stated that the term minority needed to be redefined and reconsidered in the context of the population of a community in a state, instead of nationwide population data.
Upadhyaya has contended that those who are not entitled to minority protections under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution, exemptions under Articles 15(5) and (6) of the Constitution, provisions of the Right to Education Act and welfare programmes of the Government, etc, are enjoying these measures. This is a clear violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Upadhyaya had said that Hindus, who are a majority community as per national data, are in minority in several north-eastern states and in Jammu and Kashmir. He further added that the Hindu community is deprived of benefits which are available to the minority communities in these states.
The SC had, in November 2017, declined to entertain Upadhyaya’s plea seeking the minority status for Hindus in seven states and one UT and had asked him to approach the NCM.
The NCM, however, allegedly took no action on it for 15 months. Hence Upadhyaya had proceeded to file a writ petition to declare Section 2(c) of the NCM Act, 1992, and the Notification dated 23.10.1993, void and unconstitutional for being arbitrary, unreasonable and offending Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Vrindavan today to attend the occasion of the Akshaya Patra Foundation serving its 3 billionth meal. He unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion at Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir and served the organisation’s 3 billionth meal to underprivileged children.
In a tweet earlier in the day, Modi had congratulated the organisation on the momentous occasion. The Akshaya Patra Foundation serves food to millions of underprivileged children as an implementing partner of the Mid-Day meal scheme.
I will be in Vrindavan today for a unique programme- to mark the serving of the 3rd billionth meal by the Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Congratulations to all those associated with this mission. Their efforts towards eradicating hunger are exemplary. https://t.co/h1TiwG0PF9
The Prime Minister’s warm endorsement of Akshaya Patra will further antagonise the ‘civil society’. As we had reported earlier, Civil society has been up in arms against the ISKON affiliated organisation and have been demanding that its Mid-Day meal contracts be scrapped.
The Right to Food Campaign which has been spearheading the protests against Akshaya Patra has among its constituent members NGOs that receive huge amounts of funds from Christian organisations abroad and some which have intrinsic links to Naxals. The same Christian organisations also donate to organisations that fight for Rohingyas in the Court. The report that demonised the Amarnath Yatra was published by an organisation that received funds from the same Christian organisation. We had also reported on the deplorable anti-Brahmin bigotry of one of the leading activists associated with the campaign.
Narendra Modi endorsing Akshaya Patra despite vehement opposition by ‘civil society’ is a stark contrast from the time during the UPA regime when the National Advisory Council (NAC) was entirely made up of people from foreign-funded NGOs. We had reported earlier that such people drafted the heavily biased anti-Hindu Communal Violence Bill which assumed that the majority community is always to blame for communal violence while the minority community is always the victim.
Unlike the Congress party, the NDA government has been sceptical of foreign-funded NGOs. Recently, in his address in the Lok Sabha, Narendra Modi declared that his government had cancelled the registrations of 20,000 NGOs for violating norms. Attacking the Congress party for not tackling such institutions effectively, he hinted that the number could very well increase in the future.
Narendra Modi, through his actions on foreign-funded NGOs and endorsement of Akshaya Patra, has made it clear that clipping the wings of ‘civil society’ is among its long list of priorities.
The Congress and the CPI(M) in West Bengal appears to be heading for a ‘tactical tie-up’ ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The aim of the said understanding is to “pool anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool” votes, as per reports.
While the state unit of the Congress has been keen on this tie-up for a long time, the central leadership of both parties have been equivocal on this arrangement.
However, after a CPM Politburo meeting in Kolkata and a parallel meeting that Rahul Gandhi held with state Congress presidents, Somen Mitra, the President of the West Bengal Congress said that his party was willing to tie up with the Left.
The West Bengal unit of the CPI(M), that had a similar understanding with the Congress for Assembly elections, has again sought a tie-up, which it sees as essential for the CPI(M)’s survival in the State.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi who has been ogling at the PM seat in the upcoming 2019 elections, and putting in his blood, sweat and tears trying to wipe out BJP from the dash, is ready to muddle through the most outrageous things possible under the sky.
Though the Congress state party head, Somen Mitra had ruled out the possibility of a tie-up with the Trinamool Congress, Rahul, necessitated by his impulse of flip-flopping at every given possibility, was seen extending his patronage to the TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, be it during the Mahagatbandhan rally on January 19 or Mamata’s dharna during the CBI row.
It is pertinent to note here that the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, who was standing ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Mamata Banerjee seems to have forgotten the fact that it was the UPA government in 2013 which had first registered a case against the Saradha chit fund scam and had accused Mamata Banerjee of ‘looting’ the money from the public.
And now, not surprisingly though, Rahul Gandhi has taken a complete U-turn and declared a ‘tactical tie-up’ with the left front which is supposed to be TMC’s political rival.
The Polit Bureau is also feeling the need to increase the strength of the CPI(M) in the Lok Sabha, since the party is down to nine MPs in the House and even its national party status is threatened if the tally goes down any further, and has taken the ‘Rahul’s trajectory’. The Kerala unit of the CPI(M), which had resisted any alliance or understanding with the Congress has reduced its tone considerably.
“The BJP has to be ousted from power in the next Lok Sabha elections. And all tactical steps required for that would be taken. This the Party Congress had already unambiguously declared,” Politburo member and Kerala state CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said.
However, this arrangement between Congress and the CPI(M) has not yielded results in the past. In the West Bengal Assembly elections of 2016 also, the CPI(M) and the Congress had a pre-poll alliance. In terms of numbers, though, the alliance didn’t favour either as the Congress won 44 seats and the CPI(M) 28, as opposed to the Trinamool’s 211 seats in the 295-seat state assembly.
After accidentally revealing about his secret meetings with Chinese officials during a visit to Kailash Mansarovar in September last year, Congress President Rahul has now decided to host ambassadors and high commissioners for a lunch meeting, reports Indian Express.
According to the reports, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is expected to meet foreign envoys stationed in Delhi on February 15. The so-called interaction with the diplomatic corps will be held at Rahul Gandhi’s residence and will be attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The proposed meeting between Rahul Gandhi and a few other diplomats of the foreign country will be the first official formal interaction, even though he had hosted envoys of about 40 countries for an Iftar party last year. Reportedly, many from the foreign diplomatic corps intend to meet Gandhi to get an assessment about his “foreign policy approach”.
The Congress president will be meeting with all diplomatic heads of missions, make some brief opening remarks and will be answering a few questions. “It is going to be an interactive session since many are interested in knowing his foreign policy mind,” reported Indian Express.
According to the report, the French government seems to be unhappy over Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s recent statements in connection with the Rafale deal, which had prompted French foreign ministry’s to release statements against Rahul Gandhi’s accusations.
The meeting with foreign envoys comes at a time when there are serious allegations against Congress party, accusing their leaders of meeting officials belonging foreign countries to influence the country’s domestic politics.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi had accidentally revealed regarding his secret meetings with Chinese officials during his visit to Mansarovar in 2018 which had led to questions regarding Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s perceived intimacy with the Chinese establishment.
Prior to his meeting at Manasarovar, Rahul Gandhi also had a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui on July 8th 2017, which was suspiciously not made public. The Congress had initially denied any such meeting but later did an extraordinary flip-flop to accept that Rahul Gandhi had indeed met Chinese diplomat after the Chinese embassy had confirmed in its website.
Last year during Gujarat elections, there were allegations that some current and former Pakistani officials had met up with Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar and former PM Manmohan Singh. Prime Minister Modi had asked the purpose of such a secret meeting at a time when Gujarat was going to polls.
Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had created a massive controversy after he had pleaded for the support of Pakistan to not only remove the current government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also to help Congress come to power. Recently, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had gone to Pakistan for Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony and hugged the Pakistan army chief undermining the thousands of soldiers who are butchered by Pakistan.
However, the proposed meeting with foreign diplomats is said to be an opportunity for Rahul Gandhi to put across his views concerning the major foreign policy challenges in the current global scenario. It is also reported that this meeting will be an opportunity to establish an association with Rahul Gandhi directly since the NDA government had stopped meetings between Opposition leaders and visiting foreign leaders in their official trips.
