The Modi government’s response to the Supreme Court directive to reveal the pricing details of 36 Rafale fighter jets being bought from France underscores the dichotomy of a government that is quick on decision-making but prone to bypass certain procedures that are deemed necessary for transparency.
While the shrill Congress outcry of ‘corruption in the deal’ has little to support it in concrete terms, it cannot be lost sight of that this government set the tone for speedy purchase when its predecessor government with A K Antony in the defence minister’s chair put off vital defence purchases that grossly harmed the country’s strategic interests.
That the Rafale jets were sorely needed is not being seriously questioned by anybody but the fact that the prime minister on a visit to Paris announced the in-principle plan to order 36 jets with the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar not even aware that such an order was in the offing sounds strange.
The deal that the erstwhile UPA regime was negotiating endlessly, without a final outcome, was for 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft which Modi whittled down to 36 in ‘flyaway condition’ without manifest deliberation. While Modi may be blamed for acting on impulse, it cannot be forgotten that the UPA regime had taken seven long years to reach finality on it.
The price is a matter of claims and counter-claims and will remain under wraps since the Supreme Court is not supposed to reveal it but there is no incontrovertible evidence to show that there was corruption in the deal. If anything, the price per aircraft in ‘flyaway condition’ was marginally reduced, not raised.
The hard reality is that Congress president Rahul Gandhi who has time and again been proved to be short on facts has been crying himself hoarse that there is corruption but there is nothing weighty to back his claim. Congressmen, given as they are too subservience to the leader, consider it sacrilege to set the record straight for fear of annoying the prince.
Let us face it. The Modi government is untainted by corruption revelations the way the UPA was. It has reason to claim that it is clean. Equally strongly, erstwhile defence minister A K Antony had no corruption taint on him personally, but his over-caution and fear of the Bofors ghost had proved a huge liability to the country in so far as defence modernisation was given the virtual go-by in his decade-long tenure.
The Modi government has claimed in a document that it shared with the court that the procrastination in finalising the deal with the French manufacturer Dassault gave India’s adversaries time to upgrade and equip their fighter fleets with advanced weaponry and radar capability.
The document points out that during the long period of negotiation with Dassault, India’s adversaries inducted more than 400 fighters from 2010 to 2015. While some were 4th generation aircraft, they even inducted 5th generation ones. That is a fact that cannot be overlooked.
It is strange that in the climate of lack of accountability that prevails, the NDA government of Modi did not consider it fit to hold erstwhile ministers accountable for procrastination. Antony’s was a clear case in which the government’s delays in finalising deals cost the country hugely in terms of defence preparedness.
It is on record that during Antony’s seven and a half years in the Defence portfolio, there was virtually no progress on deals for 2,200 howitzers worth over Rs 20,000 crore, submarines, minesweepers and helicopters for the Navy worth Rs 50,000 crore and multi-role combat jets for the air force worth about Rs 1.2 lakh crore. The net result was that we lost crucial time in acquisition of weaponry which put the clock back on the country’s defence modernisation.
As the defence minister dragged his feet and fumbled, there were repercussions for the fighting forces. The relations between the defence and civil establishments in the defence ministry have never been so strained as they were during the UPA period.
In an unprecedented action, General V K Singh took the Government to the Supreme Court in 2012; former Air chief marshal S P Tyagi was chargesheeted by CBI in 2013 for accepting bribes; and Navy chief admiral D K Joshi quit in ignominy after a spate of warship accidents, beginning with the August 14, 2013 destruction of a submarine as well as deaths of 18 of its crew, and the February 26 fire onboard another submarine that killed two officers.
There is no doubt that defence purchases have speeded up under the Modi government and defence modernisation is proceeding at a fair pace. It would be a tragedy indeed if the Opposition campaign on the Rafale deal hits the acquisition of sophisticated weaponry. The process has to be made more transparent and safeguards against corruption in deals have to be built in and respected.
It remains to be seen what action the Supreme Court takes on the Rafale issue or whether it transfers the matter to the executive to deal with. If there is no evidence of corruption in the deal, it must call upon the Opposition not to cast further doubts on the deal as it could have repercussions on future defence deals at a time when while speed is vital, safeguards for probity are duly adhered to.
Kamlendra Kanwar is a political commentator and columnist. He has authored four books.