Did Nirmala Sitharaman lie to the nation?

The Congress President declared that he had personally met the French President and asked him whether there was a secret pact between the two countries on non-disclosure

Photo courtesy: PTI
Photo courtesy: PTI
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NH Web Desk

Congress President Rahul Gandhi took the Lok Sabha by storm on Friday by accusing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of lying to the nation by claiming there was a confidentiality clause in the agreement between the French and the Indian Government on the Rafale deal.

The Congress President declared that he had personally met the French President and asked him whether there was a secret pact between the two countries on non-disclosure. And the French President, he said, had denied the existence of any such pact.

A visibly agitated defence minister stood up on a point of order and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumr quoted rules to say that defamatory statements could not be allowed in the House. The Congress President, however, stood his ground and questioned the deal.

The Congress President launched a frontal attack on the Prime Minister and said in his aggressive speech that everybody in the country knew how much money was being spent to build up the image of the Prime minister and who are the businessmen who are paying for it

The Prime Minister, he said, must tell the nation at whose behest he had changed the terms of the Rafale deal. The Prime Minister, said the Congress President, must reply on the following questions:

  • Was the Cabinet Committee on Security consulted before his visit to France and its approval taken before the terms were changed ?
  • Why was the clause which mandated that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., a PSU, to manufacture the Rafale fighter jet, dropped ?
  • And who is the businessman or businessmen who the deal has benefitted ?

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later said that the secrecy clause had been signed in 2008 by the UPA Government and the then Defence Minister AK Antony.

What the defence miister did not say, however, was that the 2008 agreement no longer holds. The Prime Minister on his visit to France in 2016 inked a new deal. And since Ms Sitharaman on Friday said nothing about the 2016 agreement, it is now apparent that there is no secrecy clause in this agreement.

The controversy had surfaced following allegations that the Modi Government was paying three to four times the cost for each Rafale fighter that was negotiated by the UPA Government. The Modi government had been accused of benefitting Reliance Defence of Anil Ambani and the Rafale was described as overpriced.

But in February, 2018 also Nirmala Sitharaman had refused to disclose details to Parliament on the ground of the confidentiality clause.

Frontal Attack

The Congress President launched a frontal attack on the Prime Minister and said in his aggressive speech that everybody in the country knew how much money was being spent to build up the image of the Prime minister and who are the businessmen who are paying for it.

The businessman who benefitted from the Rafale deal, he said, had a windfall of ₹45,000 Crore.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, present in the House, doubled up with laughter, the Congress President stood his ground and said that the PM was looking away from him and could not see him in the eye.

Rahul Gandhi began the onslaught by sympathizing with Jayadev Galla of the TDP, who had initiated the debate. He , said the Congress President, was a victim of a new political weapon in the country called ‘ Jumla Strike’. But he was not alone. Farmers, youth, traders have all been victims of this attack.

Details of the Rafale fighter jet deal cannot be revealed in Parliament due to a secrecy pact with France, the government has said after several questions were raised on the pricing of the combat aircraft.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha that details like the per-aircraft cost cannot be shared, as India has a secrecy pact that applies to the deal.

“As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations in 2008,” the minister said in reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha. In a written statement on Wednesday, the defence ministry rebutted what it calls “unfounded allegations” and “misleading statements” on the 2016 agreement between New Delhi and Paris to buy 36 fully built Rafale fighters.

The statement does not offer any figures about how much India is paying for the various components of the deal – a key demand of the political opposition. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised on November 17 to provide the figures, but on Monday declined to do so, citing a “confidentiality agreement” signed with France.

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Published: 20 Jul 2018, 1:58 PM