And the plot thickens! The scandal surrounding the 2015 Rafale fighter jets deal reached a peak over the weekend after former French president François Hollande claimed that France had no say in choosing its Indian commercial partner in the deal. The comments come in reference to an Indian government deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets three years back, and seem to flag significant concerns in Paris about possible damage to bilateral ties.
The statements came in an interview published in French newspaper Le Monde. Responding to a question on who selected Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence Industries as a partner and why, Hollande said, “We did not have a say in that. It was the Indian government that proposed this service group (Reliance), and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us.” Junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said, “I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France. Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate.”
Promptly reacting to the development, the Ministry of Defence tweeted, “The report referring to former French president Hollande's statement that GOI insisted upon a particular firm as offset partner for the Dassault Aviation in Rafale is being verified. It is reiterated that neither GoI nor French Govt had any say in the commercial decision.” India’s opposition Congress party has now accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of giving billionaire businessman Anil Ambani, preferential treatment to the detriment of state-run HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) company. They have even called for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the deal as well as public demonstrations to protest the agreement.
The Rafale planes were picked in 2015 from a field that included Lockheed Martin's F-16, Saab's Gripen, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Russian MiG-35. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Modi should stop misleading the nation on the Rafale deal and agree to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the defence contract.
CAG to examine pricing, but deal will stand: Jaitley
Asserting that the Rafale deal would not be cancelled as the allegations of a scam were farcical, Jaitley questioned a tweet of Rahul Gandhi and linked it to the statement of Hollande. The minister said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) would examine the pricing even if it did not reveal the details and would certainly take a view on whether the NDA government’s deal was better than the one UPA was negotiating.
Jaitley said it was odd that having previously accused Hollande of being complicit with industrialist Anil Ambani, Rahul was parading the former French president as a star witness in the alleged wrongdoings in the Rafale deal. “It is no coincidence that on August 30, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted ‘Globalised corruption. This Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It’s also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks’. The former French president’s first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi’s prediction,” Jaitley wrote in a blog.
