By
Aditya Aamir
One
day, it is top of the world. The next day, it’s the bottom of the barrel. The
3-state victory! And, then, the Supreme Court dismisses the Rafale deal as a
matter of concern. That the deal should go through despite all the noise
surrounding it. The Congress has to now rephrase its election-winning slogan
‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ even as election-hurt #BahJahPah plans to go to town with
the rhetoric that the Congress won MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh with a ‘Big
Fat Lie.’
The
Congress has rejected the Supreme Court ruling outright, insisting that only a
joint parliamentary committee will expose the truth or lie. The Congress was
not party to the case in the Supreme Court but it has been asking for a JPC
right from the start. That said, the Supreme Court did not go into the
‘pricing’ aspect of the controversy, which is what is cited as prime suspect.
The government had given ‘pricing’ in a sealed envelope to the court and the
top court chose to keep it a secret; weighing in favour of national security.
The
“BJP must not celebrate,” says the Congress. “In this matter it’s essential to
read the ‘file notings’ which the Supreme Court could not. We again challenge
the Modi government to institute a JPC probe to unravel all layers of the
deal.” For the Congress, letting go Rafale is not an option. The party cannot
afford to give Narendra Modi a clean chit. The Congress cannot just like that
dump ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’, not when the BJP has Agusta Westland to hover over
the Congress chief’s head.
The
perception battle surrounding Rafale is not finished, yet. The BJP, after losing
perception battles in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is mighty
hurt. Friday, soon after the Supreme Court ruling, Home Minister Rajnath Singh
stood up in the Lok Sabha and sought an unequivocal apology from the Congress.
In the aftermath of the 5-State elections, the so-called “semi-final”, winning
the perception battle becomes crucial to win the “2019 final” for both parties.
For
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the apex court’s Rafale ruling might be a
setback but it has shifted focus from the brouhaha surrounding the question of
appointing chief ministers in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The question has been
sorted out in Madhya Pradesh and, hopefully, keeping in mind general elections
2019, dissenting voices in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan states will calm down and
the party will unite to ensure that the perception ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ remains
to haunt Narendra Modi right into GE-2019 despite the top court saying that
“perceptions cannot be a roving enquiry.”
Friday,
stalwarts of both the Congress and the BJP held pressers, sticking to their
stands, with the Congress taking umbrage at Rajnath Singh’s apology demand “in
the midst of pandemonium” in the House, not allowing the Congress its right to
reply. On such hits and misses rests the perception battle. From now on every
Congress salvo will be met by a BJP slingshot. The Congress will not let the
Rafale scandal remain on the tarmac and the BJP will strive to see that it
doesn’t take-off again.
So,
the appeals from Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli to halt
immediately this “whole thing about Rafale” and the claim from Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha Malikkarjuna Kharge that the “adhoori judgment” of
the Supreme Court does not clear the Modi government of wrongdoings in Rafale.
The top court probably played safe or maybe the IAF top officers who spoke
before it managed to convey to the court how much the IAF required the Rafale
fighter-jet. The bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi took that seriously.
The
BJP is gloating in the ‘fact’ that the Rafale deal is
‘government-to-government’, the ‘first-ever’ since independence, but the Modi
government is unable to answer the question how a down-to-heels Anil Ambani,
his company, was chosen ‘offset partner’, by whom? That said, the SC has ruled
that there was ‘no commercial favouritism’ in the deal. It is now to see how
much of the SC ‘clean chit’ will render ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ a washout. Rest
assured, though, Rafale is not going anywhere, anytime soon. PIL-Bhushan
Prashant will see to it, if nobody else! (IPA
Service)
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