Rafale deal overtakes Bofors scam
There are two things that BJP uses as a defence to escape its responsibilities. One is that Indira Gandhi imposed emergency during her tenure as PM of this country. Another one is Bofors, a political and defence scandal involving former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s name. Congress is paying heavily for these mistakes since a long time. The first person to speak against Bofors was former PM V P Singh, who was in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet. He quit Congress and waged a war against it.
Bofors scandal cost Rajiv Gandhi very dearly. His reputation of ‘Mr Clean’ suffered a massive set back. He was forced to bear the brunt of mistakes committed by someone else. Rajiv Gandhi was a political visionary who took India to another level with his foresightedness as far as IT is concerned. Even courts have denied the role of Rajiv Gandhi in Bofors scandal. But then, BJP has continued its tirade against Congress using this topic.
BJP also refers to emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi quite often. Ironically enough, PM Narendra Modi has brought in emergency-like situation in India since the last four years. Common people and media have got a taste of this. Just the way as the press and commoners were targeted during emergency and sounded a death knell to anyone who spoke against Indira Gandhi or the government, the same situation exists even now with Modi at the helm of affairs. No media can dare criticize the government or ministers now. The journalists who have exposed the government’s misdoings are being threatened in different ways.
The IT raid and attempts to stop NDTV was a ‘caution’ issued for having criticized the government. Three journalists ABP channel had to lose jobs owing to their expose against the government.
That common people had to queue before the banks to get their own hard earned money is the darkest phase of post-independence Indian history. People didn’t have to face this even during emergency period.
Law on sale of cattle is another sort of emergency for sure. Goondas and rowdies have been reaping benefits of this new order which denies the farmers their right on their cattle. This law can even provide impetus to killing of a farmer if he takes his cattle for sale. Mob lynchings have become an order of the day in Modi’s India. Having landed the country at this juncture, Narendra Modi does not have any right to criticize the days of emergency. More than anything else, BJP government is using Bofors as its defence even after Congress was proved innocent in the matter. Modi government has been holding this out, while being so unmindful of its own involvement in Rafale deal, which is way bigger than Bofors. This is not the first time NDA govt is being caught in a defence deal. In a sting operation carried out by Tehelka tabloid, NDA led by Vajpayee was caught in a very sorry state of having accepted bribe for the defence deals. The desh bhakts were caught in a very compromising situation. A scandal in the deal of buying coffins for martyrs was also unearthed.
But looks like Rafale deal will overtake all of them in sheer size of corruption. This deal with France-based company to provide war planes is being currently termed as the bigger corruption than Bofors in its size and magnitude. Government entered into an agreement with France to buy 36 war planes at a cost of Rs 58,000 crores. Though Rahul Gandhi kept referring to this time and again, the media was successful in keeping this topic under wraps.
But now, former BJP leaders Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha have spoken against this. There is a huge difference between opposition leaders talking about this and former senior partymen speaking against this issue.
Arun Shourie was in the forefront when Bofors news appeared in the press in 1989. Now, the same man says “Rafale deal is much bigger than Bofors.”
Modi government has blundered more number of times as far as mingling with the army is concerned. They politicised surgical strike and opened doors for FDI in defence sector. Now Rafale issue has cost them quite a bit of reputation. Though such a massive scam is being levelled against the government, Modi isn’t opening his mouth at all. If Narendra Modi is innocent in all of them, the same could have been issued as an order. But Modi thinks such false allegations are something he must wear on his shoulder.
If Rafale is not a transparent deal and the country has been lied to, it is equivalent to anti-national behaviour. This would have massive impact on the psyche of soldiers who are working to safeguard the country. Audit of this deal is a must to protect reputation. Modi must offer an explanation to this issue and in complete consciousness of the fact that Bofors cannot be a reason to defend to Rafale deal.
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'Engineered narratives': West Bengal guv on alleged molestation charges against him
Kolkata, May 2: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not be cowed down by “engineered narratives” and the "truth shall triumph” after TMC leaders claimed that a woman working at Raj Bhavan levelled allegations of molestation against him.
In a statement, the Governor said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,”
To the Raj Bhavan staff "who expressed solidarity with him following some derogatory narratives that were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties," a communication by Raj Bhawan said.
The Governor’s statement came after senior TMC leaders claimed this evening in a series of social media posts that the woman, who had levelled the allegations, has been taken to a police station to complain against Bose.
Though police sources said they received a verbal complaint, there was no official word on whether a formal complaint had been registered.
“BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose was accused of molesting a woman. How utterly appalling and Horrifying. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan today. The complainant has been taken to the Hare Street police station for filing a complaint. The woman has accused the Governor of molesting her. Shocking and disgraceful,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.
Fellow TMC MP Saket Gokhale also posted on his X account regarding the issue.
West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said it is “shameful” that the Governor has maligned his post and has used it to “torture a woman”.
“It is appalling and shocking to see such an incident. This is the same Governor who had reached out to Sandeshkhali to talk about women’s rights and Nari Shakti. This is shameful that the Governor sought undue advantages in the pretext of giving her a permanent job. We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be addressing rallies in Bengal tomorrow to react on this issue,” she said.
According to sources in the Governor's House, the "woman employee with the help of her alleged boyfriend who is also an employee of the Raj Bhavan was blocking complaints (from people) being sent to the Election Commission of India.
"When she was reprimanded for that, she went outside and alleged molestation. She is in the habit of throwing tantrums against her colleagues because of some disease," a Raj Bhavan official said.
The West Bengal Governor and the TMC government have shared an acrimonious relationship since he assumed office in November 2022 and had several run-ins on various issues.
The BJP said it has to be seen whether this a “conspiracy by the TMC” or has an “iota of truth in it”.
“We all know that the TMC is politically cornered on the issue of SSC scam and is looking for a breathing space. So this needs to be seen whether this is a conspiracy by the TMC or it has any iota of truth in it,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose accused of molesting a woman. How utterly APPALLING and HORRIFYING. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj…
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) May 2, 2024
Shameful that a constitutional office holder should try to prejudice an impartial investigation by attacking the motive of the complainant. We have seen this happen in that infamous Saturday Hearing of the Supreme Court. Respect women! https://t.co/E6eJLQvFXO
— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) May 2, 2024
