The Congress has consented to a debate in the Lok Sabha but will now have to play its cards right, with the shadow of the Michel arrest looming large.
New Delhi: The Rafale defence deal is scheduled for debate in the Lok Sabha Wednesday after the Congress agreed to discuss the issue. This is after repeated allegations by the Congress that the deal smacks of corruption in high places.
What is the controversy about?
The Congress has alleged that the Narendra Modi government has bought the 36 Rafale fighter jets at an exorbitant price of Rs 1,600 crore per aircraft even though the deal during the UPA era was priced at under Rs 700 crore per plane.
Furthermore, the Congress alleges corruption in the deal, announced by the Prime Minister in France in 2015. It has been running a continuous campaign against the BJP on the issue, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi accusing Modi of lying on the deal.
He has even gone to the extent of saying that the Rafale deal is an “open-and-shut case” and Modi “will go to jail” if an inquiry is held.
Rahul, however, has given four different prices of the deal, which was being negotiated by the UPA, with the rate ranging from Rs 520 crore per aircraft to Rs 700 crore.
The Congress has also alleged that the government forced the French to select businessman Anil Ambani’s firm as an offset partner, ignoring state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), thereby gifting revenue of Rs 30,000 crore to a private company with “no experience” in defence matters.
What is the government’s stand?
The government has accused the Congress of playing politics over national security issues and has said the deal for the 36 fighter jets is actually cheaper than the original one, which was still a work in progress when the UPA government was ousted in May 2014.
It has also accused the Congress of playing havoc with the security of the nation by failing to provide the Indian Air Force with fighter jets.
What did the Supreme Court rule?
In a shot in the arm for the Modi government, the Supreme Court on 14 December dismissed four petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal saying it “had found no occasion to really doubt the process” of decision-making, pricing and selection of offset partners.
It also said that there was no material to show that the government had favoured anyone commercially.
The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also said that perception of individuals cannot be the basis of a “fishing and roving enquiry” by the court and it cannot “sit in judgment” over the wisdom of the decision to go in for 36 aircraft in place of 126.
Also read: Individual perception can’t be basis of fishing enquiry: What Supreme Court said on Rafale deal
Why is today’s debate important?
The Congress, which until now had continued to disrupt proceedings in the Lok Sabha, has made a sudden U-turn. Even though the party is still demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the deal, it has now agreed to a discussion in Parliament.
On Monday, the party said it was ready to discuss the issue after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it was “running away” from a debate. This would be the first time that both the government and the opposition will discuss the Rafale issue in Parliament.
The Agusta-Christian Michel angle
Many argue that the Congress has been put on the defensive by the government over the issue of corruption since the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, Christian Michel, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates in December 2018.
A number of media reports, quoting sources from the investigative agencies, have indicated that he was well entrenched in the system.
Michel, it is being alleged, is close to the Gandhi family. The Congress, therefore, cannot be seen as raising the corruption bogie even as it “runs” away from a debate in Parliament.
Also read: Supreme Court merely sniffing secret envelopes to see if there’s a scam in Rafale deal