Rafale bigger than Bofors, says Shourie
In a scathing commentary on the government, two former ministers, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, on Wednesday joined hands and lashed out at the Rs. 58,000 deal with France for 36 Rafale fighter jets, dubbing the deal as "a textbook case of criminal misconduct" and demanding a forensic audit of the entire deal by the government's top auditor. Along with lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan leader Prashant Bhushan, the three said Rafale is "not an ordinary scandal" and was bigger than any that India has seen.
"I can tell you as a person who handled the matter with regard to Bofors... that Bofors was absolutely nothing compared to this," Arun Shourie said, referring to the 1986 Bofors Howitzer gun deal that backfired in the Congress's face and cost then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi a chance to return.
Two senior ministers of the Vajpayee government on Wednesday raised an accusing finger at Prime Minister Modi in the Rafale fighter aircraft scam, dubbing it as "a defence scandal larger than any so far."
Rebel BJP leaders and former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, along with wellknown PIL expert lawyer Prashant Bhushan, sought a time-bound probe within 90 days by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India to nail the "gross misuse of office" by Modi, jeopardising the national security.
On the government refusing to disclose the price and terms of the deal, they said the government can not claim that it can spend any amount of public money for anything and hide behind a confidentiality agreement with a foreign government to refuse disclosure in Parliament.
Their outburst comes a day ahead of the Congress plan of stalling both the Houses of Parliament on Thursday with adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha and a similar motion in the Rajya Sabha to let the monsoon session end on the Rafale turmoil note on Friday and then carry it to the public across the country to expose the Prime Minister in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections next March and puncture any gimmicks he may have planned in his Independence Day address from the Red Fort.
Making public all relevant documents of the deal since the UPA regime at a Press conference at the Press Club of India (PCI) here, the trio asserted that any agreement with a foreign government cannot override the authority of Parliament and the Indian laws like the RTI Act and the CAG Act.
"The Bofors was nothing compared to the Rafale scam, I can tell you as a person who covered it," Arun Shourie said, disclosing how industrialist Anil Ambani helped by Modi in the deal with an "offset contract" pressurised him with a phone call and an e-mail on Tuesday to desist from joining the press conference convened by Prashant Bhushan. Ambani's e-mail and Shourie's counter were also read out.
Yashwant Sinha endorsed Shourie that "Bofors pales into insignificance as compared to Rafale" and dared Modi to let CAG conduct an audit if there is no hankypanky in the deal. Prashant Bhushan asserted that "this is a textbook case of criminal misconduct of misuse of public office, and of enriching parties at the expense of the national interest and national security."
The trio nailed the government's claim that the price per aircraft agreed by Modi was much higher than one negotiated by the UPA government because of some novel "India-specific enhancements" citing the India-France joint statement issued on 10.04.2015.