Defence deals seldom escape public scrutiny, opposition insinuations and trading of allegations. Fact is also that no such allegation could ever be proven. Bofors raised a lot of smoke but no fire over the past few decades of scrutiny, investigations, and legal fights. Huge commissions are built into every global defence deal, but who got what is always in the realm of imagination. The Modi government’s push to effect changes in the way defence deals are signed and implemented and having manufacture done in India to the extent possible had won instant praise for the reason that there could eventually and hopefully be an escape from the commission raj. Yet, here now is Rafale, raising question marks on the Modi government’s claim of integrity and transparency in such deals.
Former president Francois Hollande has given a new twist to the Rafale deal by saying the Indian government had put pressure on France and defence firm Dassault Aviation to enter into a service partnership with Reliance Defence of Anil Ambani group in the production and delivery of a set of 36 Rafale aircraft at a cost of about Rs 60,000 crore. He then turned silent. The implication of the allegation is that the ruling BJP or its top leadership aimed to benefit monetarily from the Anil Ambani group, by backing its case for partnership in the huge defence deal.
The Opposition has every right to target the government on every step it takes. A weak Opposition is proof of a weak democracy. As such, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is justified in raising a furore over this and related Rafale issues. Such alertness puts the government on guard. At the same time, even granted that the Indian government proposed the nation’s principal private sector defence equipment firm to be a partner for Dassault, this cannot be a major scandal. Such proposals do come as a matter of course. Rather, to prove that this was done with ulterior motives or monetary considerations, requires some effort on the part of the Opposition. Such efforts will be appreciated.
India has witnessed a period of indecisiveness in the matter of defence preparedness especially during the two successive UPA governments. China, during the time, leapfrogged to five times India’s strength in defence. What’s important now is to expedite the process of acquirements so as to steadily and speedily raise the nation’s defence strengths. We are paying a price for the indecision of the past.