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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
Union Defence Minister George Fernandes resigned on Thursday.
Evoking his "sacrifices" to the nation, oppressed of the world and morale of the armed forces, Fernandes announced his resignation from the Union Cabinet in a statement telecast on Doordarshan.
Fernandes resorted to this measure, he said, since the normal forum available to him, Parliament, has been denied to him because of the Opposition's protests.
Before recording his statement for the national network, Fernandes handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, requesting him to immediately order a probe into allegations raised in the Tehelka.com tapes.
Fernandes said he was offering his resignation to "uphold the morale of the armed forces" and not to allow any dent in the trust of the men in uniform. Reading out from a prepared statement, he said the ruckus created by the Opposition in Parliament and outside, was "undermining national security and striking at the morale of the armed forces."
He recollected his 18 visits to Siachen -- the "most satisfying time" in his three years as a member of the present Cabinet -- and justified various deals concluded during his tenure as above board.
He said he had received boundless love and affection from the armed forces, unqualified support from colleagues and the prime minister in his discharge of duty. Fernandes also said he had not spared any effort in boosting the morale of the armed forces and to bring in transparency in the ministry.
He said allegations of foul play in acquisitions during his tenure were false. Fernandes, in his trademark crumpled kurta and ruffled hair, read out his resignation letter, which is believed to have run into 18 typed pages.
He said in his 52 years of public life he had struggled to uphold probity and democratic values. He said he fought injustice wherever he saw it. During the Emergency, Fernandes said, "I staked my life" and went underground to fight "the oppressive regime of Indira Gandhi."
The procurement process of defence equipment, which has now come under scrutiny, has been "strictly according to norms", he said.
On the acquisition of Advanced Jet Trainers, about which Samata Party colleague R K Jain had claimed on tape that the minister had influenced the decision, Fernandes said a decision was yet to be taken. He said the Russian company, which was allegedly favoured, was not even issued a request for proposal.
"All allegations are false," he asserted, and added that they were harming national security interests.
The Opposition was "taking lies against me as a weapon" and preventing Parliament from functioning. And that was causing "immeasurable harm to national security," Fernandes said poker-faced.
He said he took over as defence minister with a commitment to create a "clean and transparent" ministry and started the process by setting up complaint boxes.
When allegations arose of involvement of middlemen, he said, all defence contracts were referred to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and Central Vigilance Commissioner.
He said his attempt had been to eliminate the role of middlemen. The defence ministry was one of the few defence ministries in the world with a stringent clause against middlemen, he claimed.
Admitting that there would obviously be some black sheep, Fernandes said the acquisition system of Indian defence was time-tested and not porous as was being made out to be by vested interests.
He clarified that allegations of him favouring the Barak anti-missile defence systems for the Navy were false. The Israeli system was recommended by the Navy in 1996 and was approved by the government that year itself, he said.
On him cancelling a contract to a Czech company for armoured recovery vehicles, Fernandes said it was done on a report of the Indian military attache from Prague. The attache had said that the Czech firm was not an original manufacturer.
On him favouring a firm for upgradation of 133 mm guns to 155 mm, he said the CVC had audited the contract and given a clean chit.
With his resignation, one of the most turbulent periods of any defence minister since V K Krishna Menon has come to an end. During his tenure, Navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was dismissed, India fought a war in Kargil leaving mysteries behind, and several controversies with serious repercussions erupted from time to time.
Though it was left to the Tehelka tapes to force his resignation, there are several questions over his tenure for Fernandes to answer: From calling off Operation Leech against gun-runners in the Andamans to his meeting with a senior Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam functionary in Paris during an official visit.
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