Fiction writing compromised national security: Arun Jaitley on Congress' Rafale charge

New Delhi: On a day when Supreme Court rejected all petitions seeking an investigation into the Rafale fighter jet deal, finance minister Arun Jaitley flayed Congress for indulging in fiction writing that had compromised national security.

Congress has maintained that the Rafale deal with France`s Dassault Aviation needs to be investigated, while even deriding Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it. The SC's refusal for a probe though has come as a shot in the arm for the ruling party. "There is a fundamental difference between truth and falsehood," said Jaitley at a press conference on Friday. "Falsehood is bound to fall apart and indeed it has. It has a short life. In this case, it was a few months. It erodes the credibility of its creators. The Rafale issue has each of these features. The disruptors have lost on all counts. The Congress indulged in fiction writing and it compromised national security."

In a scathing attack on Congress, Jaitley also said that unfounded allegations would serve to demoralise civil servants and security forces. "Every figure put out by Rahul Gandhi is false. If honest deals in the interest of national security are brought under a cloud, our civil servants and officers of defence forces will think 10 times before going forward with processes in the larger security interests of the country," he said.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, at the same press conference, said that the Supreme Court verdict should put the entire matter to rest.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court stated that there was no evidence of wrongdoing while rejecting the demand for a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the deal. "The verdict cannot be based on the belief of some people,” said the SC Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.