Govt has no official secrets act to hide behind: Oppn
New Delhi: The opposition parties have on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court's decision to allow leaked documents as evidence while hearing the petition to review its Rafale judgement.
Taking a dig at the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for invoking Official Secrets Act against those involved in publishing the 'leaked documents', Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "The Modi government now has "no official secrets act" to hide behind and a probe into the "scam" will take place."
In a major setback to the Centre, the top court on Wednesday allowed leaked documents to be relied upon by petitioners seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them.
While hailing the decision, Surjewala alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can "run and lie" as much as he wants but the truth comes out eventually. "Modiji, you can run and lie as much as you want but sooner or later the truth comes out. The skeletons in Rafale scam are tumbling out one by one. And now there is 'no official secrets act' to hide behind," Surjewala said.
"SC has upheld a time honoured legal principle; A rattled Modiji had threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against independent journalists for exposing his corruption on Rafale. Don't worry Modiji, an investigation is going to take place now, whether you like it or not," Surjewala said in a series of tweets.
Reacting to the development, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that the government has compromised on national security. "Modi and his government have compromised national security for corruption and cronyism in an important defence deal. They tried to evade accountability, denied a JPC, hid price from CAG, tried to first mislead, then stall any hearing in Supreme Court. Important that culprits are booked," he said on Twitter.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati called for the resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In a tweet, she said that the Modi government attempt to hide corruption in the Rafale deal under the cover of national security has failed. Mayawati has also demanded an apology from the Prime Minister for all the lies and misleading statements both inside and out of Parliament.
Hailing the SC decision, TDP's national spokesperson Lanka Dinakar said, "It's been proved today that we were right. We were saying it from the beginning that union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was involved in Rafale deal scam. The affidavit submitted by the Centre in Supreme Court is full of flaws."
"Now the top court has raised the fingers against the Modi government. The SC judgement is a slap on the Modi government. When chowkidar becomes chor, the people will become thanedar to give their verdict against Modi," Dinakar said.
