Dinesh Kamath's news 'The Rafale deal has become a big issue' that was published in Newsband

The Rafale deal has become a big issue

The allegation is that the contract to purchase 36 French multi-role fighter aircraft was grossly overvalued and that it was tainted by crony capitalism. Former French President François Hollande stating in an interview that it was India that suggested the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Defence Ltd. as the offset partner for the deal. This squarely contradicts what the Modi government has been saying. The Centre has insisted that the choice of offset partners is entirely that of the manufacturer, or of Dassault Aviation.

The question: did the Centre suggest a partnership with Reliance Defence as Mr. Hollande said? No questions have been raised about the capabilities of the Rafale jet, unlike in the case of some other defence deals such as Bofors.

Prime Minister Modi unexpectedly announced the decision to purchase 36 Rafale aircraft, during his France visit in April 2015. The deal was signed only in September 2016, after clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security, The negotiations for the purchase of 126 Rafale aircraft was initiated by the UPA government. That the UPA’s BOFORS purchase was a corrupt deal is no justification for the NDA being corrupt in the Rafael purchase. It only confirms what the common man knew all along: All politicians are corrupt.

This way Defence purchases will suffer. Only solution is developing our own capability. If ISRO can manufacture our own rockets and communication for space technology, why not the defence

The deal, particularly the offset agreement of Dassault with Anil Ambani, definitely smacks of crony capitalism. That there is a quid-pro-quo between Hollande's partner and Reliance Defence is obvious. Now it needs to be established if there were behind-the-curtain players.

Common people are puzzled why Narendra Modi took Anil Ambani with him to Paris in April, 2015, for Rafale Deal when HAL & Dassault Aviation had already signed the Work Share Agreement one year earlier, in March, 2013, to produce 108 nos Rafale Fighters in India.

Invariably every defence deal comes under the head of corruption for any opposition party. It was Bofors then, now it is Rafael. Thus the one aspect is very clear. Every politician fights for the defence Minister's post, because in some way or the other it appears to be lucrative.

The Indian defence must not suffer in such political disputes. The politicians are the first ones, who should ensure this. But in their attitude of power mongering, they seem to become almost unpatriotic. A mechanism should be put in place to avoid such controversial issues.

The succeeding days are bound to be eventful in the shady defence deal. The Center government's defence of the deal would be ripped open. The government throws some crumps to the commoners to gain popularity on one hand, on the other they collude with crony capitalism to grab big money. And that too at the cost of country's defense security. This is despicable. All said and done, coming days augur ill for wrong doers.