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HomePoliticsModi's Rafale deal is largest defence scam, says Arun Shourie

Modi’s Rafale deal is largest defence scam, says Arun Shourie

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In press conference, Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Prashant Bhushan allege PM Modi has compromised national security with Rafale deal.

New Delhi: Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and former BJP leaders Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha Tuesday said that with the revamped Rafale deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had compromised national security.

At a press conference in New Delhi, they accused the government of trying to cover up the new deal in a “web of lies”, claiming that the old deal, which they said took years to finalise, was replaced with the new one in just two days.


Also read: ‘Teflon’ Modi plus national security—BJP’s strategy to counter Congress on Rafale


‘Largest defence scam’

Terming it the “largest defence scam”, Shourie alleged that the Modi government had flouted the defence procurement procedure in seeking the French-manufactured aircraft, as the Defence Acquisition Council, the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry and the external Affairs Ministry were all kept in the dark about the new deal for 36 planes.

He also said that the Prime Minister had usurped the authority of the Services Headquarters and the Categorisation Committee in determining how many aircraft were required and under what category the procurement would proceed, which he was not authorised to do.

“No emergent meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council was held where the decision was taken to overturn the proposal that had been finalised after the most thorough examination and the widest consultation,” he said.

‘A Bofors-like scam’

Comparing it with the Bofors scam, Bhushan said there has been an increase in the price of the aircraft from Rs 670 crore per plane, “as disclosed by the government in November 2016” to about Rs 1,660 crore per plane. He termed as a “lie” the claims that the Rs 1,000 crore increase in cost per plane was on account of “India-specific enhancements”.

The government has refused to reveal the per-plane price referring to a secrecy agreement with France.


Also read: Rahul Gandhi targets Modi govt in UK, says Rafale deal changed to favour ‘one businessman’


“The cost per plane would have been less than Rs 715 crore. In the current deal, we get 36 aircraft in ‘fly-away’ condition, at a cost of Rs 60,000 crore. This makes the cost of the same plane with same specifications rise up to a whopping Rs 1,667 crore,” Shourie said.

“Every rule of procurement was flouted to unilaterally reduce the number of planes from 126 to 36 and remove Make in India under Transfer of Technology by HAL,” he added.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Prof PK Sharma,Freelance Journalist,Barnala(Punjab)

    It is height of shamelessness on the part of NaMo led BJP Government at Centre !
    Why should not it come out clean on the ambiguities on the Rafale Aircraft Deal ?

    There is certainly something fishy about the deal ! There are yawning gaps and
    glaring technical anomalies so far as fresh deal of Rafale fighter aircraft is concerned !

    Moreover, Mr.Yashwant Sinha, Mr.Arun Shourie and Mr.Prashant Bhushan are not just
    lay men putting forth questions for the sake of questions ! If they are raising fingers on the
    deal it is only on the basis of sound pleas, arguments and facts !

    Wiliam Shakespeare in his popular historical play,” Julius Caesar” remarks,
    ” Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”

    Then Modi and his BJP should set the record straight to dispel an aura of deep suspicion around
    Rafale Aircraft Fighter plane !

    Why are Modi and his team feeling shy of revealing the truth and facts if Modi and BJP are clean ?

    Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
    Pom Anm Nest, Barnala (Punjab)

  2. The govt owes proper response to queries coming from someone of the stature of Arun Shourie- given his penchant for serious study of subjects and deep insights on critical factors affecting outcomes – at least there should be a private conversation with him to understand his misgivings.The govt , finally may not agree with him and keep its counsel – but he must be heard simply because he is Arun Shourie with the quality of work done by him for several decades

  3. To see a respected figure like Arun Shourie, take an uninformed position on the Rafale deal, just because of his latter day antipathy to the present Govt, is sad.
    Sinha is a person scorned, and Bhushan a discarded loose cannon trying to find relevance.
    Time for retirement to the forests, for them.

    • A comment by a devoted bhakt for the devoted bhakts! Insult and accuse other of bad intentions, when people ask you questions about your decisions. God save us from the bhakts and the self-styled gods they are trying to serve – Modi and Shah who tell us that they can solve all the country’s problem in next five years.
      Why does the government not let the country know the cost? How does it help hiding information? Who are they trying to protect? How does a business that knows little about defence manufacturing (or manufacturing in general) become a partner for one of biggest offset contracts in the India history? Why does HAL deserve to loose the contract? Are there no other public sector defence manufacturing units who can hele Rafael meet the offset obligations? Above all, how does Modi and company fund elections if the big businesses are not funding them?

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