Rafale ‘details’ will ‘play with security’
Countering the Opposition's attack on Prime Minister Modi's silence over the purchase of the Rafale fighter planes from France, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha on Thursday that the national security will be compromised if details of the deal are revealed.
He said if the price details of the Rafale deal are disclosed, it would be like playing into the hands of the enemy who would know about the weaponry that has gone into the fighter aircraft. While the aircraft price is in public domain, the price goes up because of the sophisticated weaponry installed in it, a defence ministry official explained.
Denying any kind of underhand dealing in the purchase of 36 aircraft, Jaitley said the Congress-led UPA's new strategy is to manufacture corruption charges. There was a huge ruckus in the House in the afternoon following Jaitley’s statement, leading to adjournment of the Lok Sabha for the day. He defended the government, pointing out that even the UPA government never revealed the nitty-gritty of defence deals. He cited how Pranab Mukherjee refused to divulge details of weapons purchased from the US and AK Anthony refused to provide any details of the weapons purchased from Israel. Secrecy is an inherent part of any deal, he said.
Jaitley was basically responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s repeated allegations of discrepancies in the Rafale deal.
Coming out of the Lok Sabha, Rahul, however, carried on with his tirade, saying there is something fishy about the transaction. He also went to the Twitter to ask in his "The Great Rafale Mystery" series as to "Why did the Raksha Mantri change her stance from: I will reveal the price of the Rafale planes in Nov 2017 to the price is a State secret in Feb 2018?"He provided four answers to his own question in the tweet: 'A. Corruption B. To protect Modiji C. To protect Modiji's friend D. All of above'
Rahul told media persons that PM Modi was busy giving speeches but had no time to answer crucial questions.