Mainstream WeeklyThe following is the press release of a statement by Dr Prem Singh, President of the Socialist Party (India).
The matter of purchase of Rafale fighter aircraft from France has consistently remained within the realm of suspicion. There are allegations that this deal is the largest defence scam so far in India. The Rs 64-crore Bofors gun scam does not stand anywhere in comparison to the Rs 1000-crore scam of the Rafale deal. It is becoming gradually evident by various facts percolating from various sources that the Prime Minister, by violating the norms/rules, has taken a risk with the country’s defence mechanism and has allowed the loot of the government exchequer for the benefit of a particular industrialist. It is also alleged that the government has made contradictory statements in this entire case and has misled Parliament. Prima facie it seems that there are lots of untoward happenings within the deal. The Modi Government does not have a satis-factory answer to the allegations. It has been trying to cover all the facts related to the deal under the cover of the 2008 secrecy provisions. The French Government is doing the same.
The previous UPA Government wanted to buy 126 Rafale aircraft from the French company, Dassault, to strengthen the Air Force. Since the Congress Government had suffered loss of face from the Bofors gun deal, it was over-cautious about this deal. That’s why, for the defence deals, the committees of Defence Ministry and concerned departments of the armies were formed. The recommendations of these committees were mandatory for making any defence deal. Under this arrangement, every defence deal used to pass through several phases. The deal of the Rafale aircraft passed through all these stages and it was decided to purchase 126 aircraft considering the need to renew the Air Force’s six squadrons. The Rafale aircraft is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and it has two engines. There is also an inbuilt radar developed in the US.
At that time the government’s intention was to bring the technology to the domestic industries to make them self-reliant in defence production. It held long discussions in 2012 to buy the aircraft at reasonable rates. There was a decision that every aircraft will cost Rs 670 crores and 18 aircraft will be brought directly from France, and 108 aircraft will be manufactured in the public sector undertaking, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with the parts brought from France. Meanwhile the government at the Centre changed. The new NDA Government continued the talks. In 2015, the CEO of Dassault, the aircraft manufacturer, came to India and stated that the talks have ended and the prices have also been confirmed. But to benefit a capitalist, it is alleged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi overturned all the procedures and conditions of the deal in just two days without taking the Air Force, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Ministry into confidence. In the