Congress and its Rafale delusion!

The conduct of Congress party in the whole affair of procurement of combat jets shows a complete disregard for national security and preference for private illicit enrichment over national interests. In all this din over the Rafale deal, it was almost forgotten that the Indian Airforce badly needed to bolster its squadron strength in view of the obsolescence of some categories of its fighter jets and that the in-principle approval for the procurement of 126 fighter jets was given way back in 2001. The dire straits of aging fleet were evident in the skirmishes that took place between Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force over LOC.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s attack on Rafale deal is based on lies and he has manufactured a lot of them in the last few months. He first alleged that there was no Indo-French secrecy clause in the Rafale deal. This was denied by the French President. He then went on to say that Narendra Modi pressurized Dassault to sub-contract to Anil Ambani. This was denied by Dassault Aviation. A fake audio tape was also attempted to be presented by Rahul Gandhi during the debate on Rafale in the Parliament and when he was asked to vouch for its authenticity, he withdrew it. In the latest addition to this list, Rahul Gandhi referred to his conversation with late Shri Manohar Parrikar, which apparently took place during his brief courtesy meeting with the ex-defence minister, while the fact is that no such conversation took place during that meeting.

Repeated attempts have been made to question the pricing.Details regarding pricing have been reported by almost every defence reporter long back. The MMRCA negotiation with Rafale talked of basic price of Rs. 550 crores plus inflation and exchange rate fluctuations. The adjusted price of a basic aircraft under the MMRCA would have been Rs. 737 crore whereas the price negotiated under the current deal is Rs. 650 crore, which is 9 percent cheaper. The defence ministry has time and again said that total cost and number of aircrafts is already in public domain but details of equipment and their prices are of confidential in nature and covered by the Indo-French security agreement of 2008. Disclosing details of arms and ammunition fitted to these fighter jets will defeat the purpose of high-end fighter planes.The government has also managed to negotiate a better maintenance and serviceability deal with Rafale.

The Congress is also misleading on the offset clause as the procurement under the offset clause is based on payment schedule and can be for any product covered under it and is not for Rafale spare parts alone. Solvency challenges of Anil Ambani group of companies makes him an easy target now and has been singled out from the offset partners of Dassault, which are 120 in number. I would like to remind that it was Congress led UPA government that had allowed Anil Ambani group to commercially sell coal from mines that were allotted to it under the Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) for captive use - this exception was made only for him at a time when the coal prices were going through the roof. Crony capitalism is in the DNA of Congress.

All the details pertaining to the Rafale deal were shared with the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. It was also informed that the CAG had been given access to all the files related to Rafale deal and the CAG report will be placed before the Parliamentary Committee. After going through the details of pricing and other terms and conditions, the Court had said that due process of procurement was followed and refused to order an investigation as sought by petitioners. Review petitions filed in the matter are likely to meet the same fate. Even the CAG report has given clean chit to the government.

Recently, a newspaper article, quoted details that are not even part of the official Rafale file. They were actually explanation notes on the matter after some media reported stories on Rafale. Moreover, there is question that why only 36 jets. The question is when did the government close the option for additional Rafales? The government is also questioned on the missed opportunity to make full use of the leverage provided by the new offer from the Eurofighter Consortium. The government has rightly said that entertaining the new offer at that stage was impermissible under the DPP and also a violation of CVC guidelines and would have further delayed the procurement.  

A lot of noise is also made about the deal being given go ahead by 4-3 decision. This dissent within the Indian Negotiating Team was answered by the Defence minister in the Parliament wherein she had said that in the highest traditions of the civil services, all views were aired and recorded and a collegiate decision taken after considering such opinions. Also all the decisions were also taken after due process of inter-ministerial consultations as per defence procurement process.

The biggest irony of Congress’ campaign on Rafale is the fact that an inter governmental agreement (IGA) is being compared to a tender process that did not materialize. One can insert a number of supposedly ‘favourable’ conditions in the tendering process the final outcome of which is subject to negotiations. Intransigence on these conditions can lead to a breakdown of the negotiations. To compare negotiable terms under such a ‘non-deal’ to an actual agreement is unreasonable in every manner. IGA also eliminated middlemen and commission agents that had become a bane of all defense procurements through open tendering process.

The Congress demand for joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate the deal is not fair as the Supreme Court has already given clean chit andthe review petition is pending, CAG report is already with the Parliamentary Standing Committee and as such presently there are no adverse reports on evidences except unsubstantiated allegations that don’t add up.The Congress and its sympathizers have failed to come up with any proof that could implicate the government. Every question on the issue of Rafale deal has been answered from the floor of the Parliament. Congress and its cohorts are still repeating lies because its intent is to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of Indian public.

The greed of Congress had ensured that there was no contract for the supply of newer fighter jets even after Rafale was declared as L1. Every single day’s delay was compromising our defense preparedness and national security. So far as the so called scam of Congress is concerned, it can cry itself hoarse; Government, BJP and the people of India have much better things to do.