New Delhi | Two retired Admirals have refuted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that former PM Rajiv Gandhi had used INS Viraat for personal use.
Vice Admiral (Retd) Vinod Pasricha was in-charge of INS Viraat during Rajiv Gandhi’s 1984-89 tenure as PM, said all protocols were followed at the time and that no foreigners or other guests were present. “Nobody was on a holiday. Only Rahul Gandhi was with his family. No foreigner was with the PM,” he said.
PM Narendra Modi at a rally, had accused the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of using the ship as a “personal taxi”.
“INS Viraat was insulted by using it as a personal taxi. 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,” Modi had said.
Confirming Pasricha’s views, former Navy chief Admiral L Ramdas said that no ships were “specially diverted” for the personal use of the Gandhi family, neither were there any foreigners.
“The prime minister was at Trivandrum as a chief guest for National Games prize distribution. He was going to Lakshadweep on official duty to chair a meeting of Islands Development Authority. This meeting is held alternately in Lakshadweep and Andamans… I then hosted a dinner for the prime minister that night. And there is a photo to confirm this,” he said in a statement.
Vice Admiral (Retd) I C Rao also called these claims false and said these statements are made just to mislead the voters.
“Such statements are aimed at swaying the voters. I feel the voters should ignore such claims and exercise their right,” Rao said.
“Rajiv Gandhi along with his family boarded the ship from Thiruvananthapuram to stay aboard for three days. Lakshadweep island is almost 220 nautical miles from land and helicopter was the only means of transportation then available, so he used the air service from Viraat, he said.
“He organised a dinner on board the ship for the ship’s crew. It is very bad to spread fake information for some political gain,” he said.
“I am not a fan of Rajiv Gandhi or his policies, I do not want Navy or any other establishment to be used for political gains,” Rao said.
Meanwhile, Congress has strongly dismissed these claims.
Read Also: Congress refutes claims; calls PM Modi a “serial liar”
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