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Govt sees foreign hand in Opposition’s Rafale onslaught
The government claimed it was not aware of the details of the partnership the French company has entered into with its off set partners, and that these would be known only after Dassault submits entire details with regard to offset obligations worth 50% of value of the purchase.
There is an “international dimension” to the Rafale controversy and a certain desperation in the Congress to besmirch the corruption-free image of the Narendra Modi government, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
“We recognize there is a perception war going on. I will go around the country and counter it. No way are we going to agree to false propaganda. Now you also see an international dimension to it. Rahul Gandhi’s quote (coming) just a few days before (former French President Francois) Hollande’s comment can not be a coincidence. There is certain desperation to blemish the government image when there has not even a whiff of corruption in last four and a half years,” she told reporters at the BJP headquarters.
Her comments echo those made earlier by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
On Friday, Hollande told a French website that Reliance Defence was part of the deal (as an offset partner) at the insistence of the government of India.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra drew a parallel between the opposition party and Pakistani leaders, saying both want Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed from Indian politics.
“Some people want Gandhi to become a big leader in India. Who are they? They are Pakistani leaders, and also those who stand for corruption, dynasty and politics of appeasement,” Patra told reporters.
The Congress and Pakistan have this commonality that they have “frustration” with Modi, and their “only aim is to remove Modi anyway from Indian polity”, he said.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, “For the last few days, Rahul Gandhi is misleading the country by comparing the cost of an unloaded aircraft with a fully loaded aircraft. The present Rafale deal is almost 20% cheaper than the UPA deal.”
Shekhawat alleged the Rafale deal could not see the light of the day during UPA, as Rahul’s brother in law Robert Vadra’s company was not accepted as the “middleman”. The minister alleged that the government wanted that the Rafale deal with Dassault Aviation should have been done under Vadra’s company Offset India Solutions, which was formed in 2008.
Another senior leader of the ruling party said the government was ready to answer each and every question of the opposition, but a Joint Parliamentary Committee, as demanded by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was not required as its only motive is to spread slander.
“We have answered each and every question. We are ready to engage with any one. We realize there is a perception battle and we will fight it out,” the leader said.
The government strongly refuted Hollande’s claim that New Delhi proposed the name of Anil Ambani’s company as Dassault’s offset partner for Rafale deal. “He said New Delhi proposed Ambani’s name and gave no choice. If he is to be believed, why is Dassault engaged in negotiations with hundred-odd other potential partners? ” the leader added.
“Other partnerships have been signed with other companies such as BTSL, DEFSYS, Kinetic, Mahindra, Maini, SAMTEL,... Other negotiations are ongoing with a hundred-odd other potential partners,” Dassault said in a statement after Hollande’s remarks.
The government claimed it was not aware of the details of the partnership the French company has entered into with its off set partners, and that these would be known only after Dassault submits entire details with regard to offset obligations worth 50% of value of the purchase. New Delhi will receive in September 2019 the first aircraft and the remaining will be delivered in phases by 2022.
On the controversy relating to denial of contract to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the government leader said Dassault was engaged with negotiation with HAL when the UPA was negotiating the deal before 2014, but the French company did not find the deal with Indian company tenable.
The National Democratic Alliance government’s decision to enter the deal was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
The deal has become controversial with the Opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is Rs 1,670 crore for each, three times the Rs 526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with Hindustan Aeronatics Limited (HAL).
The deal has also become controversial on account of the fact that one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this.
