In a sensational charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 8 May, accused the Gandhi family of using warship INS Viraat as its "personal taxi" when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister.
Addressing his first poll rally in Delhi ahead of the 12 May elections for seven seats, Modi alleged that the Congress insulted the warship by using it for vacations of Gandhi family.
Modi said, “This happened when Rajiv Gandhi and his family was out for a 10-day vacation. INS Viraat was deployed for securing our maritime boundary. But it was diverted to take the Gandhi family which was out for a vacation.” He asked, “Were the Gandhis not playing with country’s security then?”
Modi’s attack on the late prime minister comes close on the heels of his allegation that Gandhi died as a “brashtachari no 1”.
Attaching an India Today article from 1988, PM Modi also tweeted “Ever imagined that a premier warship of the Indian armed forces could be used as a taxi for a personal holiday?”
The then government led by Gandhi and the navy hosted his family, including in-laws, and a helicopter was also deployed in their service, Modi claimed, adding that when a family becomes supreme, the country's security is at stake.
He also claimed that after picking up the Gandhi family, INS Viraat halted at an island for 10 days.
"Rajiv Gandhi was accompanied by his in-laws who had come from Italy. Question is whether the security of the country was not compromised by taking foreigners onboard a warship," he asked.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley too tweeted on 9 May saying, “The Kaamdars use India’s Naval assets to strike at terror. The Naamdars use them for personal vacations with family and in-laws.”
Aircraft carrier INS Viraat was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1987. After nearly 30 years of service, it was decommissioned in 2016.
What Does the India Today Article Say?
Here are the highlights from the India Today article issued in 1988 titled “Idyllic vacation for the Gandhis in the Lakshadweep archipelago”.
- The holiday started on 26 December 1987 when Rahul Gandhi and his four friends were seen alighting from an orange-and-white Lakshadweep administration helicopter.
- The guest list included four friends of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi’s sister, brother-in-law and their daughter, her widowed mother, her brother and a maternal uncle. Former MP Amitabh Bachchan, wife Jaya and their three children were also seen vacationing with the Gandhis. Also present were daughter of Amitabh’s brother Ajitabh, who was at that time being probed for suspected violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act, wife and daughter of Bijendra Singh, brother of former Union Minister Arun Singh and two other foreigners.
- The idyllic holiday in December 1987 in the quiet islands of Lakshadweep saw the Gandhis and their guests whiling away time swimming, sunbathing, fishing and sailing.
- The article said it was impossible to calculate how much the bill may have been given that various agencies were involved
- INS Viraat was moved to the Arabian Sea for 10 days. The article says the daily expenditure of the warship at sea must be “astronomical” since Viraat travels with an entire crew of escort ships. A submarine was also reportedly used. The exercise at that time had raised questions from the defence experts on why the Navy was being deprived of its most effective fighting component simply to suit Rajiv’s vacation plans.
- Huge expenses were also incurred in setting up a special satellite link up at Agatti.
- The holiday which ended on 6 January 1988.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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