Snehesh Alex Philip, Deputy Editor, heads the defence, strategic and foreign affairs vertical. He joined ThePrint in January 2019. Snehesh can be reached at snehesh.philip@theprint.in
1. One does not know why the UPA government could not finalize the Rafale aircrafts deal. But I tend to agree with the view that the UPA government was really never against minimizing corruption in defence ministry purchases. 2. Citizens like me are not at all convinced that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi is really against corruption, whether in defence deals or elsewhere. Citizens think that (a) Rahul Gandhi wishes to make use of allegations of corruption to seize power; (b) since unaccounted money is used in elections, Rahul Gandhi has to take a stand on curbing use of black money in elections. 3. Citizens wish that Rahul Gandhi should make a public announcement about what the Congress led government would do about Rafale deal assuming that UPA govt. comes to power after 2019 Lok Sabha election. Would the Rafale deal be then renegotiated, would it be cancelled and would those who are responsible in NDA government be tried for misuse of power? These questions are in citizens’ mind and the need a straight forward answer and they need to be answered. Let us how Rahul Gandhi responds.
Difficult to judge the accuracy of this charge. However, it is a fact that in the last two years of its tenure, UPA II lacked the nerve and the political capital to go through a deal to purchase / manufacture 126 fighter aircraft. This on top of St Antony’s reluctance to acquire anything more expensive than a pin cushion for MoD.
If memory serves me right , one of the explanations given by the congress on Rafale and not going thru with it was the proximity of elections
1. One does not know why the UPA government could not finalize the Rafale aircrafts deal. But I tend to agree with the view that the UPA government was really never against minimizing corruption in defence ministry purchases. 2. Citizens like me are not at all convinced that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi is really against corruption, whether in defence deals or elsewhere. Citizens think that (a) Rahul Gandhi wishes to make use of allegations of corruption to seize power; (b) since unaccounted money is used in elections, Rahul Gandhi has to take a stand on curbing use of black money in elections. 3. Citizens wish that Rahul Gandhi should make a public announcement about what the Congress led government would do about Rafale deal assuming that UPA govt. comes to power after 2019 Lok Sabha election. Would the Rafale deal be then renegotiated, would it be cancelled and would those who are responsible in NDA government be tried for misuse of power? These questions are in citizens’ mind and the need a straight forward answer and they need to be answered. Let us how Rahul Gandhi responds.
बेसिर पैर का वक्तव्य
Difficult to judge the accuracy of this charge. However, it is a fact that in the last two years of its tenure, UPA II lacked the nerve and the political capital to go through a deal to purchase / manufacture 126 fighter aircraft. This on top of St Antony’s reluctance to acquire anything more expensive than a pin cushion for MoD.