Taking a dig at the Opposition, PM Narendra Modi blamed that the UPA-2 regime for the lack of modernisation in the country's defence infrastructure while speaking at the India Today Conclave

by Chayan Kundu

This startling revelation raised eyebrows among many, but India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the prime minister made the right claim. Despite repeated tenders for bulletproof jackets (BPJ), it was not obtained during those five years.

The India Today Conclave was the prime minister's first address on India's defence situation after the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistan's captivity.

Taking a dig at the Opposition, Modi blamed that the UPA-2 regime for the lack of modernisation in the country's defence infrastructure. The prime minister said, "One of the common thing our armed forces regularly need are bulletproof jackets. In 2009, our force made a request for 1,86,000 bulletproof jackets... in 2009... you will be ashamed to know that not one, I repeat not one bulletproof jacket was obtained from 2009 to 2014."

Earlier in April 2018, India Today reported that the Ministry of Defence placed an order to procure 1.86 lakh bulletproof jackets worth Rs 639 crores for the Indian army after nine years of wait. We had mentioned in this article that the MoD had given an acceptance of necessity for buying 1,86,138 jackets on October 16, 2009. But since then, the army has been unable to procure these jackets for various reasons.

India Today found that the then defence minister of UPA 2, AK Antony, on May 6, 2013, in his reply to a question by the MP Abdur Rehman in Lok Sabha accepts the fact that "no bulletproof jacket has been procured during the last three years". The minister says, " The Request for Proposal (RFP) for procurement of quantity 1,86,138 Bullet Proof Jackets has been issued on 07.12.2012.

In fact this was the last reply of the UPA government in Lok Sabha regarding bulletproof jacket during their tenure. As per the minister's reply, there was no procurement for the bulletproof jacket in the country for the security forces till 2010.

In another reply to Lok Sabha on February 23, 2010, by the minister of state for home affairs, Mullapally Ramachandran, the Union government accepted the fact that there was a delay in procuring the BPJ due to corruption as a scientist in DRDO "had compromised the evaluation".

The UPA government had ordered 59,000 bulletproof jackets for the CRPF. The tender was opened on July 27, 2009. But later, there were serious charges of corruption surfaced regarding the quality of the jackets as bullets easily pierced through the samples of the jackets that were tested. This was reported widely by many mainstream media, including India Today.

In 2018, the NDA government procured the bullet proof jackets for the armed forces, ministry of state for defence Subhash Bhamre confirmed this to Parliament on December 19 last year.

INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK

Claim

Not a single bullet proof jacket was procured between 2009 and 2014.

Conclusion

This claim made by the PM is true as no bullet proof jacket for the armed forces was procured between 2009 and 2014.