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| BJP attacks Congress over secret report on 1962 war | | | Agencies
New Delhi, Mar 18: BJP today used a secret report on the 1962 war with China to attack Congress, saying it had compromised with national security then and was doing the same now, and demanded that the document be made public.
"The investigations revealed show that it is the same old story of Congress approach towards national security and defence preparedness...Government of the day did not really communicate well with the Army," BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, referring to the The Henderson Brooks report after an Australian journalist claimed to have accessed it.
"They did not take cognisance of their needs and therefore there was a gap not only of communication but of requirement and preparedness. Therefore, India had to suffer a humiliating defeat," he said.
He said Congress does not take lessons from history and even today what is being witnessed leaves a question mark on the country's defence preparedness. "The government then was of Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru. Today it is Congress government led by Manmohan Singh. Both the governments are guilty of not giving enough attention to the very important issue of national security," Javadekar said. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the report should be made public so that the nation can know "as to who did what wrong". "The nation still feels the pain of that humiliation. The BJP would like the entire report to be made public so that more than 50 years thereafter the nation must know as to who did what wrong," he said.
Javdekar said even 50 years after the war, the situation has not changed. "Even today, the government is not giving top priority to national security and defence preparedness. BJP will give top priority to defence," he said.
Alleging that every defence procurement became a scam under the Congress government due to which defence preparedness suffered, Javadekar alleged that the Italian court verdict rejecting Indian government's order of forfeiting guarantee showed that it deliberately kept lacunae which is why the order could not stand legal scrutiny.
"This shows government's intention of covering up the scam and so people are asking who are the real recipients of bribe money," he said.
Prasad said the report "holds Jawaharlal Nehru responsible and rightly so.... Surely, Nehru has to account a lot for and may the time has come that the future generation of India must debate who secured India more -- Sardar Patel or Jawaharlal Nehru."
Javadekar said for BJP, national security is most important and its government will do whatever is possible to protect the country.
He said that even today there is continuous problem of equipment shortage in Navy and lack of training helicopters in air force and multi-axle trucks, guns and assault rifles in Army and "all this is well- documented".
"It is a very serious issue for the nation," he said. Javadekar alleged that even today the government is not giving top priority to national security and defence preparedness. On the VVIP chopper deal where the Italian court has rejected the Indian government's plea of forefeiting the bank guarantee, he said, "it is a slap on Indian government's face". Javadekar said the VVIP helicopter scam was exposed by Italian agencies and not by the government of India. He claimed the deal has been cancelled in such a way that it will not stand the scrutiny of judiciary. "Government needs to come clean on the issue and government needs to really tell the nation how it is going to recover the money and how it is going to recover the money that is given as the guarantee," he said. |
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