By
Binoy Viswam
When the CAG report got presented in
the 16th Lok Sabha on its last day, Narendra Modi might have breathed a sigh of
relief. But Rafale will continue roaring in his ears and thoughts in the coming
days. In the name of national security Narendra Modi and company tried their
level best to hide the what-abouts related to Rafale deal from the people. But
the details of the defence deal have fallen out through various sources reveal
that Narendra Modi government mortgaged the nation for the sake of pecuniary
interests of his own and his friends. He was trying to render a helping hand to
Anil Ambani to become the offset partner in the defence deal. It is to
everybody’s presumption that a large part of Ambani’s fortunes in his defence
deal was supposed to reach the coffers of BJP. For this the ‘nationalist’ prime
minister in a subtle manner pushed off Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The defence deal with Rafale has
rather a long history. It began during the UPA regime. Then also the idea was
to augment the striking capacity of Indian Air Force. And the original
negotiations were for 126 aircrafts and HAL was very much there in the whole
negotiation process. When Narendra Modi came to power negotiations took a
different turn through which national defence was sidelined. Not only HAL, even
the defence ministry and its minister were kept under dark. As per the
documents revealed by ‘The Hindu’ a parallel line of negotiation was opened in
which the prime minister’s office was playing the key role.
According to the defence ministry
files itself it was a seven-member negotiating team authorised for the talks
with Rafale. It is reported that there were 18 rounds of negotiations between
India and France. During the final stage Narendra Modi entered the scene and
tried to dictate the terms. When this high level intervention came to the
notice of the defence ministry, they noted down in the files that “the PMO may
be advised” not to indulge in this matter as it may weaken the position of the
Indian negotiating team. That file speaks a lot about Rafale deal. It tells
that the intention of the prime minister and his office was not to strengthen
India’s position in this crucial defence deal. For whom and for what was this
intervention is now not a secret at all. Reliance defence, the company mooted
by Anil Ambani was born only a couple of weeks before the treaty was signed.
Their expertise in the field of fighter aircrafts was near to nothing. Still
with the patronage of the nationalist prime minister Reliance company could
push out Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with its track record of several decades
in service of the nation.
The arm twisting skill of Narendra
Modi is such that he could force the then defence secretary to state that there
was nothing unusual in the files as such kind of exchanges are nothing but
usual. No, it is not usual that the office of the prime minister of a country
making telephone calls to the advisor to the defence minister of another
country. If such a talk was necessary that should have been at the level of the
defence minister’s offices of both the countries. This incident shows how eager
and enthusiastic Narendra Modi was in reaching the agreement that would benefit
Anil Ambani at the cost of India’s integrity and security! In the CAG report
also it was visible. Narendra Modi was keen to white wash the black deal
entered between India and the French Company, Dassault Aviation Limited. Report
of the CAG on Capital Acquisition to Indian Air Force mainly deals with the
Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) for acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and
the provisions of an Indo-French Agreement, signed on January 25, 2008. It is
intriguing that in such a report commercial details of the deal was not
mentioned. The government was always insisting that this being a matter of
national security the price information of Rafale deal cannot be revealed. On
its letter dated February 6, 2019, the ministry of defence reiterated the same
position to the CAG also. Still without the commercial details, CAG acted
swiftly and trustworthily to the government.
The present CAG who was the finance
secretary during the crucial period of Rafale has somehow managed to present a
report that can be used by BJP to cover their ugly face of corruption. Even
though the pricing details are not disclosed the CAG found out that NDA –
Rafale deal price was 2.86 percent less than the UPA rate. In the same breath,
the report says that it was benefitting to Dassault also. Profits for Dassault
means loss for India. Certain reports say that during UPA the cost for one
Rafale fighter was calculated as 11 million Euros. During NDA it became 36
million Euros per fighter.
The arithmetical principle adopted by
CAG in working out the 2.86 percent theory is not known. The watch word of the
CAG says that it is “Dedicated to Truth in Public Interest”. But in his report
Rajiv Mehrishi, the CAG opted to close his eyes to many of the truths, it
seems. Of course it is not for the public interest, it is for the interests of
the political masters who have successfully caged all the institutions
including the CBI for their dirty political ends. Now CAG also is attached to
that band wagon otherwise how could the CAG blatantly close its eyes to the
dissent note prepared by 3 members in the Indian negotiating team? How could he
neglect Modi’s decision to do away with the bank guarantee and sovereign
guarantee in such a huge commercial deal with great relevance to national
security?
(IPA Service)
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