Macron brushes off question about Rafael deal; defers to Modi

United Nations: French President Emmanuel Macron brushed off questions about the controversial Rafael deal saying he was not in charge when the agreement to buy the fighter jets was made and that he would defer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter.

“I was not in charge at that time but I know that we have very clear rules and this is a government-to-government discussion,” he said at a news conference here on Tuesday.

“I just want to refer to what Prime Minister Modi very clearly has said a few days ago and I (don’t) have any other comment,” he said. He was replying to a question if France had been asked to use the Reliance group as the Indian partner for the Rafael deal made when Francois Hollande was the President. Macron clearly did not want to get involved in the controversy roiling Indian politics.

He said the Rafael deal was a part of a broader strategic relationship with India and was very important to him.

The Modi government has denied steering Dassault to Reliance, saying that was the French company’s decision. As a part of the offset component of the deal to buy 36 Rafael costing about 7.87 billion Euros (or Rs 58,000 crore), the manufacturer Dassault was required to outsource to India about Rs 30,000 crore of business. Dassault picked Reliance Defence for that requirement in the agreement.