Jaitley takes jibe at Rahul, says he is hallucinating

A day after the no-confidence vote, Union minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday castigated Congress president Rahul Gandhi for blending “ignorance, falsehood and acrobatics” in his speech, engaging in “frivolity” and having “hallucinations”.

Accusing Rahul of “lack of understanding”, Jaitley was severely critical of the Congress president over his remarks quoting French President Emmanuel Macron as having told him that there was no secrecy pact between the two countries that prevents India from disclosing the purchase price of Rafale fighter jet.

Jaitley said by “concocting” a conversation with Macron, Rahul has “lowered his own credibility and seriously hurt the image of an Indian politician” before the world at large.

“A Vote of No Confidence against the Government is a serious business. It is not an occasion for frivolity. The lead participants in the debate are normally senior political leaders. They are expected to raise the level of political discourse. If a participant happens to be a President of a national political party nourishing Prime Ministerial aspirations, every word he speaks should be precious. His facts should convey credibility. Facts are always sacrosanct. None should ever trivialise the debate. Those who desire to be Prime Minister never blend ignorance, falsehood and acrobatics,” the Union minister said.

Claiming that Rahul “missed a great opportunity” and if this was his best argument for 2019, “God help his party,” Jaitley alleged that the Congress president's “lack of understanding” is not only confined to basic issues but also to the niceties of protocol and insisted one should never “misquote” a conversation with a head of government or a head of state.

Jaitley alleged that Rahul now seeks to “embarrass” former prime minister Manmohan Singh by “implicitly insinuating”that Singh was a witness to the conversation “being wholly unaware that his own government had entered into the secrecy pact.”

“Hallucinations can give momentary pleasure to a person. Therefore, to hallucinate after an embarrassing performance that he has won future election or to hallucinate that he is the reincarnation of Mark Antony ( character in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, who delivers a sarcastic speech) being complemented by friends and foes alike, may give him self-satisfaction but for serious observers it is more than just self-praise – in fact, a serious problem,” Jaitley said.

Rahul had on Friday said in the Lok Sabha that there were many even in the BJP who congratulated him on his speech targeting the government.

Jaitley also took a swipe at Rahul over his criticism of the government for not including petroleum products under GST.

Jaitley also reminded Rahul that the last Indian politician who wanted to change the Constitution was his grandmother - Indira Gandhi.