Rahul Gandhi must apologize to nation: Anurag Thakur
New Delhi, July 20 (IBNS): BJP lawmaker Anurag Thakur on Friday said Rahul Gandhi must apologize to the nation for lying in Parliament while attacking the government in the Rafale deal with France with the latter now in a statement backing the Modi government on the secrecy clause of the deal.
Thakur said Rahul Gandhi lied in Parliament by misleading the nation.
After Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed in Parliament on Friday that he had learnt from the French President that there was no secrecy clause in the Rafale aircraft deal, the French Embassy in New Delhi issued a statement to cite an India Today interview of their President and affirmed that the deal was sensitive and hence the details cannot be revealed.
The statement by the French Embassy put Congress in a spot and Rahul Gandhi probably lied on the issue going by the reaction of France, as it said that India is bound by the secrecy clause.
It said: "We have noted the statement of Mr Rahul Gandhi before the Indian Parliament. France and India concluded in 2008 a Security agreement, which legally binds the two States to protect the classified information provided by the partner, that could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipment of India or France."
"These provisions naturally apply to the IGA concluded on 23 September 2016 on the acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and their weapons. As the President of the French Republic indicated publicly in an interview given to India Today on 9th March 2018, « In India and in France, when a deal is very sensitive, we can’t reveal all details »," the statement by French Embassy in New Delhi read.
Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly during his speech on the No Confidence Motion in Lok Sabha on Friday, Rahul Gandhi said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lied about the facts of the Rafale deal and a secrecy clause under pressure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Nirmala Sitharaman lied to the country over the Rafale deal under Prime Minister Narendra Modi when she said she could not reveal the details of the deal owing to a secret pact with France. There is no such pact," said Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress president said he came to know from French President Emmanuel Macron himself that there was no secret pact between India and France.
He attacked the PM and the BJP on ‘favouritism’ on the Rafale deal by assigning it to a businessman with no experience in building planes, instead of to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
Following the Congress president's remark, Sitharaman got up from her seat and tried to protest.
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