Mayawati calls for long-term defence procurement policy

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday said the Centre should take the opposition parties and alliance partners into confidence to prepare a long-term and transparent defence procurement policy.

The BSP chief said the Supreme Court judgment on the Rafale fighter jet deal was likely to provide some relief to the BJP government that was facing a crisis after its defeat in the just-concluded assembly elections in five states.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to order a CBI probe into the purchase of 36 French-made Rafale jets, holding that it was satisfied that there is no reason to doubt the purchase process or the need for the fighter jets. The court said, “perceptions of individuals cannot be a basis for a roving inquiry”.

Mayawati in a statement released to the media said, “There was a need to clear the people’s misgivings and misconceptions about defence deals,” adding that the fundamental reforms should be brought by the government in defence purchase.

The former UP chief minister said both the Congress and the BJP had been accused of indulging in corruption in defence deals when in power. Both are the same side of a coin and no less than each other in siphoning off public money, she alleged. The Congress was accused of corruption in the Bofors deal and the BJP faced similar allegation in the Rafale deal, she said.

Mayawati said that “a long-term defence procurement policy will remove misgivings and stop the political parties from accusing each other, protect the country’s image and discourage people from moving court.”

The NDA government’s decision to enter the $8.7 billion government-to-government deal with France to buy the warplanes made by Dassault was announced in April 2015. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime’s decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

It has become controversial, with the opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is Rs 1,670 crore for each, three times the Rs 526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft.

First Published: Dec 14, 2018 18:31 IST