The Parliament is in the middle of a storm over the Rafale deal between India and France over the purchase of fighter jets. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are at war with both sides ruthlessly attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha and outside, respectively. The bone of contention is multi-crore Rafale fighter jets agreement between India and France that was finalised on September 23 in 2016. Last week in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claiming that the latter had “lied nder pressure from the PM”.

“The Defence Minister has clearly lied under pressure from the PM. Everybody knows the relationship that Prime Minister Modi has with a few business people, and everyone can see the amount of money that goes into his marketing. One of them was given the Rafale contract. Prime Minister Modi has not been truthful and that is a fact,” Gandhi said during the debate on the no-confidence motion Friday last.

While the Congress is planning to move a privilege motion against PM Modi, BJP has rejected all the charges claiming that the stand of the Congress “is clearly not in the interest of the country.”

What is the Rafale deal?

India and France entered into an agreement for 36 Rafale fighter jets at a value of euro 7.87 billion, or about Rs 59,000 crore. The agreement includes a 50 per cent offset obligation, the largest-ever offset contract in the history of India. The main point of the offset agreement is 74 per cent of it has to be imported from India, which means direct business worth around Rs 22,000 crore, according to PTI report.

Soon after the deal, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group and Rafale maker Dassault Aviation had announced a joint venture (JV) that will be a “key player” in fulfilling the offset contract.

While the deal was inked during the tenure of the incumbent central government, the UPA government floated a tender in 2007 for the purchase of 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Air Force and, post negotiations, two of them–Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon — remained in the reckoning. However, Manmohan Singh-led dispensation could not finalise the deal, PTI reported in February this year.

What is Rahul Gandhi’s charge?

Rahul Gandhi has taken potshots at the government at various points of time on the issue. In November 2017, Gandhi tweeted: “Self “Reliance” is obviously a critical aspect of “Make in India.” “Can you explain “Reliance” on someone with nil experience in aerospace for Rafale deal?” he wondered.

On February 9, this year, Rahul sharpened his attack on the government through a tweet addressed to Arun Jaitley. “Dear Mr Jaitlie, You said the UPA never released prices of Defence purchases? To nail your lie, here are 3 Parliamentary replies by the UPA with full transparency on pricing. Now do ask our Raksha Mantri to tell India how much each RAFALE jet.”

During the No-confidence motion debate on Friday, Rahul said, “Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier said that she will tell the country about the cost. However, later she said it’s a secrecy pact between both the countries (India and France). I asked the French President about this secrecy pact, but he denied the existence of any such pact. He even told me that he has no issues in making the cost public.”

Former Defence Minister AK Antony claimed that the government cannot hide the price details of the Rafale jets as the deal has to be scrutinised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) as well as Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). “They must reveal the price details of the aircraft and they must also tell us why a company was selected as offset partner which has no experience manufacturing aircraft,” said Antony, alleging the private player has benefited by crores.

His colleague Anand Sharma said the government owes Parliament an explanation on why Modi and Sitharaman “misled” the nation on the price issue. “The French government had no objection in revealing the price of the Rafale aircraft. This was conveyed by the French president to Rahul Gandhi during a meeting in which I was present along with the former prime minister,” he said.

Another point that Congress has raised is that the deal negotiated under its rule was much cheaper than the contract signed by the Modi government. The Congress had claimed that the per aircraft price under the deal inked by the NDA came to Rs 1,600 crore as against the Rs 520 crore negotiated during the UPA.

BJP counters Congress charge

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the base price of each aircraft negotiated by the government with France is at 91.75 million Euro, nine per cent less than the 100.85 million Euro the UPA government had decided upon. “As these sensitive matters overlap the price details, the previous government (UPA) on many earlier occasions did not disclose them on the floor of the House in public interest. This includes import of weapons from the USA and imports of defence items and missiles from Israel,” he said.

Giving details, Prasad said the UPA had invited quotes for 126 aircraft in 2007 and the price quoted 79.3 million Euro with in-built escalation formula. When the bid was opened in 2011, the proposed cost in the bid document was 100.85 million Euros per aircraft, however, this also could not be finalised, he said. The NDA government under the inter-government agreement finalised 91.75 million Euros as the cost of an aircraft, nine per cent less, he said.

Notably, the aircraft’s basic cost has already been placed in the Lok Sabha on November 18, 2016, and in the Rajya Sabha on March 12, 2018, and March 19, 2018. Divulging details further to the basic price of the jet would essentially reveal its capabilities, somthing India would not like to see happen as it prepares to counter an assertive China and forever foe Pakistan.

France’s stance

France, which also came under the spotlight in the Rafale jet debate, categorically said that there are some legal intricacies in the matter which need to be understood. “We have noted the statement of Mr Rahul Gandhi before the Indian Parliament. France and India concluded in 2008 a security agreement, which legally binds the two States to protect the classified information provided by the partner, that could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipment of India or France,” the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

The official further said, “These provisions naturally apply to the IGA (Inter-Governmental Agreement) concluded on 23 September 2016 on the acquisition of 36 Rafale aircraft and their weapons.”