Priests bless Rafale jets in Greece; Here's how Rajnath Singh's 'Shastra Puja' was mocked

On January 19, six newly purchased Rafale jets from France were welcomed by Greece. In a grand television brocast, first six out of 24 Dassault-me jets were captured arriving in country flying past Parnon Temple atop Acropolis hill. message "Welcome home" beamed from control tower as jets approached Tanagra airbase.

At airbase, a religious ceremony was held to mark ir arrival. Before big handover, Catholic priests performed prayers for jets and blessed m with holy water. same blessings were also passed on to Defence officials before jets were handed to Air Force. While religious ceremony was seen as a sign of warm welcome in Greece, it's hard to not recall verse reaction that h erupted in 2019 when our Rafale jets were welcomed by Defence Minister in a tritional Shastra Puja. 

Rajnath Singh's Shastra Puja called 'communal' 

On October 8, 2019, when India was handed over first Rafale combat aircraft, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh performed a Shastra puja at Merignac air base, his action sparking a huge 'communal' debate. Singh h performed puja on aircraft, emblazoned it with an Om tilak and laid flowers and a coconut, just before he took a 35-minute sortie in two-seater jet. This puja was performed on occasion of Dussehra, marking end of Navaratri festival. 

However, back in India, simple act of Defence Minister to honour fighter aircraft was met with a huge uproar with Opposition parties raising questions on Hindu trition.

• Congress calls move a 'tamasha'

It started with Congress party calling move 'tamasha' to woo people. While senior party leer Mallikarjun Kharge dubbed puja as 'atrics', veteran leer Salman Khurshid opined that it would have been better if Rafale would have got blessings of 'all religions', rar than one religious power.

• NCP compares Defence Minister to 'truck driver' who hangs nimbu-mirchi 

At a press conference ahe of Maharashtra elections, NCP chief Shar Pawar mocked Rafale shastra puja and drew a parallel between Defence Minister and truck drivers, who hang lemon and chilli to ward off evil eye. "What can one say when lemon-chilli is hung on Rafale aircraft with idea of protecting it from curse just like it's hung on a newly-purchased truck," mocked Pawar. 

Defence Minister h responded gracefully to critics saying that even people in France, who belonged to or religions h accepted his act at ir own airbase. "On day of Vijayashami, when I performed weapon worship in France and wrote 'Om' on Rafale and tied thre of defense, some Congress leers sitting here started getting troubled. Whereas in France people of all religions were present and all were cooperating fully," he said.

Later, a 'Sarva Dharma' puja with Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian priests was also organised to welcome jets at Ambala airbase in India.  question remains on wher leers would now care to comment on Greece's decision to bless ir aircraft by Catholic priests in same manner. 

Image: Republic World, ANI