New Delhi: Hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling former PM Rajiv Gandhi a top-ranked corrupt person, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wondered why the grand old party chief was so disturbed when issues of integrity of his father’s government were raised.
In a series of tweets, Jaitley wrote, “Why is Rahul Gandhi so disturbed if integrity issues of the Rajiv Gandhi Government are raised? Why did Ottavio Quattrocchi get kickbacks in Bofors? Who was the ‘Q’ connection? No reply has come.”
Quattrocchi, an Italian businessmen, was accused of acting as a middleman for bribes in the Bofors scam. He was said to be close to the Gandhi family, especially UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
There were allegations that Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors had paid huge kickbacks to Rajiv Gandhi and others for the sale of its artillery gun to India.
The high court had said there was no evidence that Rajiv Gandhi accepted any bribes. He was killed by suicide bombers in 1991, during a visit to Sriperambadur in Tamil Nadu.
Further, hitting out at the Congress president for repeatedly attacking Modi over corruption, Jaitley said, “The Dynast can attack the integrity of India’s Prime Minister – a man of utmost honesty. Does he believe that the dynasty does not have to answer any questions?”
The Dynast can attack the integrity of India’s Prime Minister – a man of utmost honesty. Does he believe that the dynasty does not have to answer any questions?— Chowkidar Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) 5 May 2019
Earlier in the day, Rahul said the prime minister’s ‘karma’ awaited him and that the battle was over for him.
Modi Ji,The battle is over. Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you. All my love and a huge hug. Rahul— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) 5 May 2019
At a rally in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, Modi, while hitting out at Rahul said his father was termed “Mr Clean by his courtiers, but his life ended as ''Bhrashtachari No 1'' (corrupt number 1)".
This was in response to the Congress president’s allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.
Jaitley also drew a parallel between late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her role in Emergency and ‘Operation Blue Star’, which was carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to flush out Sikh ‘militants’ from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Later, in October that year, Indira Gandhi was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
Jaitley wrote on Twitter, “Indira Gandhi was also assassinated and yet Congress is questioned about Emergency and Operation Blue Star.”
Jaitley also took on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his comments that the country was headed for a slowdown.
Singh, who is known as the architect of India's economic reforms in 1990s, accused the Modi government of leaving the country's economy in "dire straits".
The finance minister said, “When an Economist turns into a politician, he loses sense of both economy and politics.”
“Dr. Manmohan Singh left behind in 2014 an economic slowdown, policy paralysis and corruption. He brought down his party to lowest ever strength in Parliament. India was a part of the fragile five… Today he regards the World’s fastest growing major economy as disastrous.”
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