A JPC on Rafale: Mr Jaitley does protest too much

It was surprising to find a lawyer of Mr Arun jaitley’s stature claim in parliament that the Supreme Court had given the Government a clean chit on the Rafale deal. This undoubtedly is what the BJP has been busy propagating and what its followers unquestionably believe. But one expected Mr Jaitley to do better than that. It is inconceivable to nurse the thought even for a moment that Mr Jaitley might not have read the judgment of the Supreme Court while dismissing the four petitions, two of which had asked for a court-monitored probe. The relatively short judgement spanning merely 29 pages would not have escaped the attention of Mr Jaitley either, who both as a former  Defence Minister and the current Finance Minister has been associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘New Rafale Deal’.

The lawyer in Mr Jaitley could not have escaped reading the part in which the apex court held that it did not think it had the jurisdiction to inquire into defence deals. What is surprising is the passion with which Mr Jaitley sought to convince Parliament that the judgement did amount to a clean chit. It could not however have been a clean chit for the simple reason that there was no argument on merits. Much of the judgement quoted what the Government shared with their lordships in a sealed cover with even petitioners getting no access to the information. No, Mr Jaitley, what happened in the Supreme Court was not a ‘trial’ but merely an exercise for the court to convince itself that the issues were beyond its jurisdiction. It did not rule out a probe of any kind, leave alone a JPC.

Mr Jaitley’s stout rejection of an inquiry by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) actually raises suspicion that some of the petitions before the Supreme Court were actually part of what lawyer have been calling ‘ambush PILs’. These are PILs which seek to be quashed so that an impression can be created that there is no case. What is even more suspicious is the Government’s refusal to agree to a JPC  despite its overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha.

Surely the Government knows that the chairman of the JPC would be from the Treasury benches and a majority of the members from the ruling coalition? If the Government still shows reluctance to a probe by the JPC, it could only mean that it does have something to hide. Despite the controversy that has lasted the last several years, the Government is yet to come up with satisfactory explanations. Why was the number of planes to be supplied brought down from 126 to just 36? Why was HAL junked and an opportunity to build indigenous manufacturing capability lost? And why indeed did Dassault suddenly pick a ten-day old company with no experience as its partner? A JPC can call for files, grill bureaucrats and bury the controversy once and for all. But why is Mr Jaitley so averse to it ?