Parliament, not court, right place to debate Rafale: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said Saturday that Parliament, and not court, was the right forum to take up the Rafale fighter jet deal in which his party has alleged a major “scam”.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Union home minister said the Rafale deal should not be compared with the Bofors case as there was no corruption in the purchase of Bofors guns from Sweden in 1980s.

Replying to a query on approaching the court on the Rafale deal issue, he said, “The solution to this problem is not court... this has become a fashion in India – for everything you go to court.

“The place to debate is Parliament... that is where the elected representatives are. All debates take place in Parliament, debates do not take place in court. It is only in India that courts have become a debating place and Parliament has become

stagnant,” Chidambaram said.

He said if the government did not want to debate the issue in Parliament, the other option was to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) - a demand made by the Congress - and discuss the deal there.

The JPC represents Parliament. It is miniature Parliament, he said.

It is only in India that courts have become a debating place and Parliament has become stagnant. –P CHIDAMBARAM, Congress leader