Appraising his performance during the debate on no-confidence motion in Parliament, Union Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, has missed a great opportunity.

In his facebook blog, he also felt that the vote on no-confidence motion is a “serious business and not an occasion for frivolity.”

 

Jaitley’s comments have come after Modi Government won the trust vote on Friday. Although, the results were known, still there was curiosity about what Rahul will say.

However, not his speech but his action post speech became the headlines. His hugging the Prime Minister followed by wink invited a lot of criticism. Ruling NDA said that since his speech lacked substance, he had to adopt theatrics.

Now Jaitley, who is under quarantine after renal surgery in May, has opened attack against Rahul. “If this was his best argument for 2019, God must help his party. His lack of understanding is not only confined to basic issues but also to the niceties of protocol,” the Minister said making reference to Rahul’s comment on Rafale aircraft deal.

Rahul had claimed that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had said there was no secrecy clause in Rafale deal. However, this was denied by the French Government last evening itself.

 

“One should never misquote a conversation with a Head of Government or a Head of State. You do it once, serious people will be reluctant to speak to you or speak in your presence. Rahul Gandhi, by concocting a conversation with President Macron, has lowered his own credibility and it will seriously hurt the image of an Indian politician before the world at large,” Jaitley said while adding that not to be aware of the fact that UPA Government Minister had signed the secrecy pact is not understandable.

Jaitley blamed the Congress President for embarrassing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by implicitly insinuating that he (Singh) was a witness to the conversation being wholly unaware that his own Government had entered into the secrecy pact.

“Rahul has repeatedly shown that he is ignorant of facts. But to insist on disclosure of financial details, which indirectly involves the disclosure of the strategic equipment on the aircraft, is to hurt national interest. Cost gives away a clue to the weaponry in the aircraft,” Jaitley, who is also leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, alleged.

Motion on no-confidence a serious business

The Minister said normally senior political leaders take part in debate on no-confidence motion. They are expected to raise the level of political discourse.

If a participant happens to be a President of a national political party nourishing Prime Ministerial aspirations, every word he speaks should be precious. His facts should convey credibility.

“Facts are always sacrosanct. None should ever trivialise the debate. Those who desire to be Prime Minister never blend ignorance, falsehood and acrobatics,” he said.

Economic issues

Jaitley criticised Rahul on his statement on provisions related with petrol-diesel under GST. He asked, is he (Rahul) unaware of the fact that the UPA-proposed GST amendment to the Constitution never included petroleum products as part of the GST? 

 

It is only the NDA which brought it within the GST with tax to be levied once agreed by the GST Council.  Rahul was very critical of higher prices of petrol-diesel in his speech.

 

Hallucinations

 

The Minister said that hallucinations can give momentary pleasure to a person. Therefore, “to hallucinate after an embarrassing performance that he has won future election or to hallucinate that he is the reincarnation of Mark Antony being complemented by friends and foes alike, may give him self-satisfaction but for serious observers it is more than just self-praise – in fact a serious problem. Even in dynasties many successors remind you of the virtues of their predecessors,” he said, while ending his blog by saying that just yesterday he reread two of Panditji’s  (Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru) legendary speeches – ‘Tryst with Destiny’ and ‘Light has gone out of Lives’.

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