The debate in Parliament on the Rafale fighter aircraft deal was with fireworks but did not clarify any doubt. Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may have had the upper hand and come up with punchlines — such as that if the Bofors issue brought down the Congress party, Rafale, on the other hand, will help Prime Minister Narendra Modi come to power again — but there is no logic here. How can a deal with many questions over it help the government? Rhetoric apart, the government has not answered a key issue — of the selection of a private and novice Indian company as offset partner. The Narendra Modi government has to prove that it did not favour anyone unduly. The government cannot hide behind the excuse that the choice of selecting the partner is that of the seller’s.
Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao,
Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh
Ms. Sitharaman’s long-winded speech has not cleared the air. Her invocation of ‘national security’ and ‘hostile environment’ was fine as a prelude to her defence of the dubious deal. But their connection to the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal was left unexplained. She left a raft of questions unanswered — on the number of aircraft, the cost, the choice of the private Indian firm and the lack of a sovereign guarantee. Her contention that defence procurement was at its weakest under the UPA regime was not quite relevant to the issue at hand. Only a few will believe that the Indian private company was made the Indian offset partner by Dassault Aviation without being prodded to do so by the Indian government. Only a few will accept that debt and inexperience could help such a firm qualify. Referring to the AgustaWestland deal, Ms. Sitharaman held that the HAL would give only helicopters and “not anything else”, oblivious to the fact that the same logic applies to the deal in question too. Instead of fielding his Ministers to defend the shady deal, the Prime Minister must be upfront about all that he knows and clear the air.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Ms. Sitharaman appears to have a sense of humour. She knows fully well that it is neither AgustaWestland nor Rafale which is going to bring the BJP or the Congress back to power. It is the non-performance of the NDA at the Centre which is going to play a vital role in the general election. Voters are not fools. Ms. Sitharaman must remember the long list of significant promises the BJP made when it swept to power in 2014. Her statement in Parliament could haunt the BJP in the forthcoming general election.
Mohan Arimboor,
Thrissur, Kerala
The column, “The scam in the ROFL deal” (“Columnwidth” page, January 6), though written in a lighter tone, raises serious questions about the Rafale fighter aircraft deal. For all the governments which ruled India so far as well as for the present government, education , health and poverty removal — which are the essential components of human capital formation — have never been sectors needing priority attention and funds. We pride ourselves as being a nation that is among the top in the import of defence equipment but are not ashamed of still having a considerable percentage of the population living without basic requirements. We are proud about the high percentage of youth population but are not bothered about quality improvement in their education levels, skill training, job requirements and health status. Finally, Parliament had a lengthy discussion on Rafale deal. But the Defence Minister, despite her lengthy and aggressive speech, has not answered the fundamental questions the principal Opposition party has been raising. The doubts in the minds of the people which have been raised in the column remain unanswered.
Rameeza A. Rasheed,
Chennai
