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 broadcast, the first six out of the 24 Dassault-made jets were captured arriving in the country flying past the Parthenon Temple atop the Acropolis hill. The message "Welcome home" beamed from the control tower as the jets approached the Tanagra airbase.

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

Rajnath Singh's Shastra Puja called 'communal' 

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

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

• Congress calls move a 'tamasha'

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

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

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

The Defence Minister had responded gracefully to the critics saying that even people in France, who belonged to other religions had accepted his act at their own airbase. "On the day of Vijayadashami, when I performed weapon worship in France and wrote 'Om' on Rafale and tied the thread of defense, some Congress leaders 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 the jets at the Ambala airbase in India. The question remains on whether the leaders would now care to comment on Greece's decision to bless their aircraft by Catholic priests in the same manner. 

Image: Republic World, ANI