Congress: Reliance Defence couldn’t have been chosen for Rafale deal without Modi Govt’s approval

The Narendra Modi Government has chosen friendship over experience in the Rafale deal, said the Congress party at a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, September 25. Congress MP and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal alleged that Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was defending ‘Maximum Support Price’ to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence in the Rafale deal, and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was busy defending her government’s suited, booted friends over the interests of the nation.

Congress said that the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party had to field Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to speak on a defence deal proved that Defence Minister Sitharaman is now ‘defenceless’ and has lost the courage to face the media to “explain her multiple lies to hide the truth about corruption” in the Rafale deal.

The main Opposition party accused Sitharaman of repeatedly lying over the Rafale deal, saying her comments that state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was incapable was refuted by former HAL chairperson T Suvarna Raju and her claim that Modi Government had nothing to do with selecting Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence instead of HAL for the Rafale deal were exposed by former French President Francois Hollande’s revelations. Congress said despite being exposed repeatedly, “yet another lie to the nation” by Sitharaman has "come to the fore”.

Congress: Reliance Defence could not have been chosen without approval and scrutiny of Modi Govt

The Congress said the BJP, in their anxiety to favour an inexperienced corporate friend, violated the Defence Procurement Procedure 2013/2016. Sibal said the Modi Government can’t pretend that it was unaware of Dassault Aviation’s selection of its offset partner because as per DPP 2016, the government has to be—and must have been—apprised of the developments every step of the way. The party accused the Modi Govt of deliberately avoiding following DPP to accommodate their corporate ally.

Sibal said a reading of the Defence Procurement Procedure 2013/2016 it makes amply clear that the offset partner cannot be selected without thorough evaluation and scrutiny by the Raksha Mantri and Defence (Acquisition Wing) Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence. Based on the reading, Congress asked the Modi Government if the procedure laid down in the DPP for all defence procurements including evaluation of offset partners bypassed or deliberately ignored by the Raksha Mantri. Congress said the Modi Govt needs to share evidence to show they complied with DPP-Offset Guidelines in approving Reliance Defence as offset partner for the Rafale deal, and can’t act ignorant on offset contracts being given in violation of DPP.

Demanding that the Govt make public all files showing compliance of DPP guidelines, Sibal insisted that if the Modi Govt can’t show proof of this, then that means entire Rafale Deal is in violation of the defence procurement procedure. Sibal also demanded the Modi Government answer the follow five questions:

• What extraordinary expertise did Dassault’s chosen offset partner Reliance Defence bring to the table to displace the time-tested defence public sector undertaking, HAL?
• The Modi Govt should also explain why did they not raise the issue/object to the ‘last minute’ change from HAL to Reliance Defence?
• Which professionally-rum company like Dassault Aviation will select as an offset partner a company with zero experience of manufacturing aircrafts and debt of ₹45,000 crores without the nudge and direction from none other than PM Modi?
• Why would any professional company like Dassault Aviation select a 12-day-old company to be its offset partner for offset contract worth ₹30,000 crores without the express consent of PM Modi?
• Which commercial company like Dassault Aviation would select an Indian company as its offset partner which did not have land or a building to manufacture anything at all without specific direction of Indian PM?

Timeline of the Rafale Deal

Congress at the press conference also released the following timeline of events in the Rafale deal:

• Reliance Defence Ltd incorporated on March 28, 2015.
• On April 10, 2015—ie 13 days later—PM Narendra Modi announces in Paris that India will buy 36 readymade Rafale aircrafts from France.
• Two weeks later on April 24, 2015, Reliance Defence Ltd’s subsidiary Reliance Aerostructure Ltdformed.
• On 30 July 2015, Defence Ministry scraps the RFP for the earlier deal, which took seven years of technical and commercial evaluation, to make room for the new inter-government deal
• On August 5, 2015, new amendment to offset guidelines brought in, which allows Dassault Aviation to give details of its Indian offset partner at a later stage, instead of during evaluation or before signing of the deal
• In June 2016, Modi Government allows 49% FDI through automatic route, meaning foreign firms no longer need prior approval from the Government in defence sector
• On August 24 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Security approves the new deal for 36 Rafale jets under the inter-governmental agreement.
• On September 23 2016, – The inter-governmental agreement and offset agreement get signed on the same day
• On October 3 2016, Reliance Aerostructure Ltd and Dassault Aviation form joint venture with 51% and 49% stakes, respectively.
• The same day, Dassault and Reliance lay foundation stone for a manufacturing facility in Nagpur