Congress claim on INS Vikrant is spurious: Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi used navy warships, aircraft carriers for vacation

New Delhi: As India rallies behind its first wholly indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on Friday when it was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a sullen Congress couldn’t just join the people in pride and jubilation.

Like a broken record, Congress jumped to lay claim to the credit of INS Vikrant. Sonia Gandhi-loyalist Jairam Ramesh was quick to tweet: “India’s 1st indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant commissioned today is a collective effort of all govts since 1999. Will PM acknowledge? Let’s also recall original INS Vikrant that served us well in 1971 war. Much reviled Krishna Menon played a key role in getting it from UK.”

“Then defence minister AK Antony launched India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant on 12.08.2013. The PM commissioned it today. A self-reliant(Aatmanirbhar) India existed before 2014. All other Prime Ministers would have acknowledged continuity in governance,” he added.

But, this doesn’t cut it!

For one, India had to wait for 75 long years to build its own aircraft carrier when most of these years the fate of India and its armed forces was at the mercy of Congress governments.

Never serious about modernisation of our defence forces, Congress always sang haranguing jeremiads of absence of funds.

In February 2014, then defence minister AK Antony had said that the Congress-led UPA government had no money to buy Rafale jets. After inaugurating the Defexpo that year, Antony had said that government had no money left and that all major deals would have to wait. That was when the defence forces were grappling with shortage of all kinds and using obsolete equipment.

INS Viraat was Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘Private Taxi’

Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi used INS Viraat, India’s another aircraft carrier of the Centaur Class, for personal vacation back in 1987. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made this shocking revelation at a public rally in Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in 2019.

“Ever imagined that a premier warship of the Indian armed forces could be used as a taxi for a personal holiday? One Dynasty did it and that too with great swag,” PM Modi had tweeted in May 2019, with a picture of Rajiv Gandhi on the infamous vacation.

Rajiv Gandhi was accompanied by his family and also his in-laws on this infamous vacation at an uninhabited island in Lakshwadeep called Bangaram.

Commander (retd) VK Jaitly, who was posted on INS Viraat at that time had come out to vindicate PM Modi on the issue. He revealed that Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi used INS Viraat for personal travel to Bangaram island and that Indian Navy resources were extensively (mis)used. “I am a witness. I was posted on INS Viraat that time,” Jaitly had said.

“I was witness to the entire episode. A room was readied in the admiral’s cabin for the Gandhis. It’s true that the Gandhis used INS Viraat to head towards Lakshadweep. It’s not a small thing. Vice Admiral Pasricha was our commanding officer. He would know about the foreigners. The warship was anchored off Lakshadweep. It’s was not a small fleet. We were told they were coming to ship and that it would sail to Bangaram. One admiral room was readied. The ship went to Kochi to pick them up. They stayed overnight. After that, they left towards Lakshadweep on a chopper. They did stay on a ship. The ship anchored nearby Bangaram. The aircraft carrier never sails alone. Several Naval ships accompanied. Resources were used,” Jaitly had told Republic TV in 2019.

An India Today report from 2013 notes: “Questionable actions were, however, in evidence. India’s premier warship, INS Virat, was used to transport the Gandhis and moved in the Arabian Sea for 10 days. Its daily expenditure at sea is astronomical as the Virat travels with an entire retinue of escort ships. A submarine was also reported to be in attendance and some defence experts questioned the justification of depriving the navy of its most effective fighting component merely to suit Rajiv’s holiday plans. The considerable expense was also incurred in setting up a special satellite link up at Agatti for the duration of the holiday”.

In 2019, the Indian Navy, in response to RTI queries, had accepted that Rajiv Gandhi had embarked on INS Viraat off Trivandrum on 28 December, 1987, disembarking at Minicoy on 29 December, 1987 “in his capacity as the Prime Minister of India” as also Sonia Gandhi, who had embarked INS Viraat along with Rajiv Gandhi. No details of the entourage, however, were available.

First, Nehru used navy vessels for personal use

The tradition of using Indian Navy assets at sea for persona use was started by Rajiv Gandhi’s grandfather and Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru. He was also the first prime minister of India.

In June 1950, Nehru was vacationing on INS Delhi, a Leander-class light cruiser built for the Navy in 1933. It was known as HMS Achilles in the British Raj and had commissioned into the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy in 1937.

Jawaharlal Nehru was accompanied by Indira Gandhi, young Rajiv and Sanjay vacationing aboard INS Delhi, during their voyage to Indonesia in June 1950.

The vessel was returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War and in 1948 was sold to the Royal Indian Navy to be recommissioned as HMIS Delhi. In 1950 she was renamed INS Delhi and remained in service until decommissioned at Bombay on 30 June, 1978.

The author is News Editor, Firstpost. Views expressed are personal.

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