New Delhi: Echoing sentiments expressed by the PM over the use of INS Viraat by late Rajiv Gandhi for a family vacation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said while the kaamdars used India’s naval fleet to strike at terror, naamdars used them for personal reasons. “The Kaamdars use India’s naval assets to strike at terror. The Naamdars use them for personal vacations with family and in-laws,” Jaitley tweeted. PM Modi often uses the word naamdar to refer to the members of the Gandhi family, and kaamdar for people who work hard for the nation.
Modi, during an election rally on Wednesday, had accused the Gandhi family of using warship INS Viraat as its “personal taxi” for a holiday when Rajiv Gandhi was India’s prime minister between 1984-89. “Rajiv Gandhi was accompanied by his in-laws (on INS Viraat) who had come from Italy. The question is whether the security of the country was not compromised by taking foreigners onboard a warship,” Modi asked. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
In a separate tweet, Jaitley said the Congress which had blamed DMK for Gandhi’s assassination has now tied up with the regional party in Tamil Nadu during the ongoing general election. “From December 1990 till May 1991, when Shri Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, the Congress-supported Chandra Shekhar govt was in power. “From May 1991 till 2004, the Congress blamed its present ally the DMK for Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. It even withdrew support from the United Front govt on this ground. 28 years later, today a desperate Congress has discovered a BJP role,” Jaitley said. Jaitley’s remark came in response to senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s assertion the BJP-backed V P Singh govt had refused to provide Rajiv with additional security and left the former PM with one PSO despite credible intelligence inputs and repeated requests.
