Nagpur, Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led central government over ‘non-transparency’ in Rafale deal, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government of flouting the defence procurement procedure and sought a detailed inquiry in this regard.
Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Chidambaram alleged that the Modi government had not only flouted the defence procurement procedure but also sidelined several committees to secure the deal.
The former minister also alleged the Modi government did not take the Cabinet Committee on security into confidence before signing the deal.
He questioned, “Why was the defence procurement procedure ignored in the Rafale deal? Why were the Contract Negotiation Committee and the Price Negotiation Committee kept in the dark about it?”
Mr Chidambaram claimed that there was a huge difference in the price per aircraft secured by the UPA regime and by the NDA government.
The Rafale fighter jets were estimated at Rs 526 crore per aircraft in UPA contract while the NDA contract valued them at Rs 1,670 crore per aircraft, he claimed and sought explanation as to why the prices jumped three-times.
Mocking the Modi government further, the Congress veteran said that despite much haste shown by the Centre, after three years and four months, not a single Rafale fighter jet has arrived in the country. “People are asking where is the aircraft?,” Mr Chidambaram questioned.
“There was no transparency on pricing, on delays in delivery (it was supposed to be an ’emergency purchase’, do such emergencies get acted on in 3 years since the first Rafale is going to arrive in India only in September 2018 on a deal signed on April 10, 2015) and selection of offset partner,” he alleged.
By going with a private company instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a renowned PSU, grave injustice has been done to the country’s public sector which is a major employer of youth and professionals, he opined.
“Even if the decision was taken by French company Dassault, could the Indian government not had pressed the case of HAL over private players, as UPA had done?” Mr Chitambaram asked.
Hitting out at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he alleged that her biggest lie of not knowing anything about the allotment of offset contract, was exposed by French Defence Minister Florence Parly herself on October 27, 2017, when she met her (Sitharaman) during the foundation laying ceremony of Reliance Defence company in Nagpur.
Referring to demonetisation, the Congress leader said that it has been the “biggest and most elegant (black) money laundering scheme of the Indian Government.”
While referring to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) annual report giving a balance-sheet of demonetisation, he said, “The RBI’s report clearly states of Rs 15.41 lakh crore demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations, only Rs 10,720 crore did not reach the RBI.”
The government had initially expected that approximately Rs 3 lakh crore of demonetised currency notes would not come back to the banking system, however, only 0.7 per cent of demonetised currency notes were junked in the exercise, which ultimately makes demonetisation a devised money laundering exercise, which only helped people with black money to convert it into white, the Congress leader said.
“I suspect 0.7 per cent of the money which didn’t make it to RBI, is in Nepal or Bhutan and some of that was lost or destroyed, so the purpose of entire attempt to flush out black money and end corruption has utterly failed,” he said.
“Even now the money situation has not been normalised. ATM is supposed to be All Time Money, but it has become more like a dairy business where milk is available between 1000 hours and 0000 hrs. In Madhya Pradesh, they (people) are calling it ‘Aayegi to Milegi’,” the Congress veteran quipped.
When asked to respond on recent arrest of five human rights activists (so-called ‘Urban Naxalites’) from across the country last week, Mr Chidambaram countered sharply that he did not agree with that phrase (Urban Naxalites), saying there is no such thing as ‘Urban Naxalites’.
He further said they are Left-wing intellectuals, activists working with tribals and the downtrodden; they are being intimidated by the present government because they are perceived as strong opponents of the right wing.
The Supreme Court has come down heavily on these arrests and disallowed police custody, he noted and pointed that in the three days since their arrest, not a shred of evidence has been put forth by the Maharashtra police.
“These are strong arm tactics to muffle the freedom of expression and kill any ideological opposition,” Mr Chitambaram added.
