JOIN US The Congress on Wednesday accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of launching ‘operation cover-up’ over the leakage of the entire design plan of the Scorpene submarine being built for the Indian Navy.
The Congress also demanded a commission of enquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge for the “free and fair” probe to fix responsibility for the “shocking” leakage of that had “gravely compromised” national security.
“The government must immediately order a high-level enquiry, find out the truth after that we can consider the future course of action. Don’t waste time. Immediately find out the truth,” former defence minister A K Antony said.
Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said the enquiry should fix the responsibility not only of bureaucrats, officials of the Mazgaon Dockyard but also on the political executive, including the defence minister and the prime minister for the “unprecedented leaks”.
“The role of the defence minister also needs to be probed on whether he abdicated the responsibility to maintain confidentiality. Was there any laxity on the part of the political executive and to what extent,” Surjewala asked.
Asked whether he would seek resignation of the defence minister on the issue, he said “the Congress does not believe in a ‘shoot and scoot’ policy and will await the constitution of an enquiry commission.”
Surjewala also wanted the Modi government to spell out clearly whether ‘Project 75’, under which India was building six Scorpene submarines, will be scrapped altogether.