#ArnabGate: Rahul Gandhi says sharing of secret information on Balakot strike a criminal act, demands probe

In a scathing attack on Modi government, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that sharing of official secret information on the Balakot strike with a journalist was a criminal act which needed to be investigated thoroughly.

“This is a criminal act. Giving official secret information both on the part of the person who accepted it and who had given it,” said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a press conference at AICC headquarters in Delhi.

Accusing PM Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues, and the NSA for compromising national security, he said only six people would have known about the plan to carry out the airstrike.

“Who leaked the information should be investigated…However, this will not be investigated” because “most likely PM himself would have given the information”.

Referring to the transcript of WhatsApp chats between Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta – which formed part of a charge sheet submitted by Mumbai Police in the TRP scam case and surfaced on social media – Rahul Gandhi said that the chats reflect the similarity (between the PM and the journalist).

Calling it an “anti-national act”, Rahul said, “Somebody is saying this is going to be very good for us when our CRPF boys are killed. That is an anti-national act”.

“These people call themselves patriots. Right? There is nothing patriotic at putting our Air Force at risk. There is nothing patriotic in taking political advantage,” he added.

The WhatsApp chats in question revealed that Goswami had prior information about the airstrike carried out by India on a terrorist camp at Balakot in Pakistan in February, 2019. They also seemed to contain a remark indicating that Goswami had rejoiced at the bomb attack in Pulwama which had led to 40 CRPF men losing their life earlier in the month.