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DNA misquotes PM Modi: Refers to the ‘general quota’ as the ‘upper caste quota’ bill

OpIndia Staff
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DNA misquotes PM Modi: Refers to the ‘general quota’ as the ‘upper caste quota’ bill

PM Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Solapur on Wednesday, referred to the landmark decision of the introduction of the 124th Constitutional Amendment Bill, providing 10% reservation for the economically weaker section in the general category for jobs and education, which got through the Lok Sabha yesterday, as a historic step and a strong answer by the Parliament to those spreading lies.

In his speech, Modi made references to the “Samanya Varg”, meaning the ‘general class’. He said “Yesterday late night, a historic bill was passed in Lok Sabha. By passing the bill regarding 10% reservation being granted to the economically weaker section in the general category, our principle of ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ has been further strengthened.”


The Prime Minister in his speech claimed that BJP is committed to uplift the nation’s youth, has been relentlessly working to provide equal opportunities and a platform for growth to the poor, irrespective of where they come from or whichever caste they belong.

Assuring that the rights of the deprived sections, including the Dalits, the OBC’s and the tribal people, will not be affected because of this bill, Modi, lambasted at Congress saying that the previous government having a penchant of playing caste-based politics, ripped off the deprived sections by squeezing their allotted quotas unlike BJP who, by introducing an additional 10% quota has established its objective of ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’.

However, DNA, a popular media house, in a flash, grabbed the opportunity to do what several media outlets, journalists and the so-called liberals have been displaying since the time Modi has taken the reigns in his hand.

In a report DNA published on January 9, they headlined the article, in which they reported the above Modi’s speech as ‘Upper caste quota bill strong answer to those spreading lies: PM Modi‘. This is a clear distortion of PM Narendra Modi’s words giving it a completely biased tone. They misquoted Modi referring to the ‘general quota’ as ‘upper caste quota’.

Screenshot of a report published by DNA on January 9

However, the truth is that in the Bill itself, the words ‘Upper caste’ finds no place at all. This 10% reservation is aimed at economically backward sections regardless of caste, creed, and religion. Perhaps the journalists are peddling this fake news because now that it has been passed, the demands for caste-based reservation and that of Muslim reservation would not find any traction or legal sanction. Any other category except the SC, ST, OBC etc would need to avail of the 10% quota if they meet the financial backwardness criteria.

This decision, which is being considered a milestone decision, though due to political considerations, received a nod form the oppositions, soon, as expected, started receiving the predicted criticism. All the suspected ‘Modi-haters’ began spreading lies and misrepresentations surrounding the same.

From RSS doesn’t let women wear skirts to ‘Modi hid behind a woman minister’, Rahul Gandhi displays his toxic masculinity

Nirwa Mehta
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From RSS doesn’t let women wear skirts to ‘Modi hid behind a woman minister’, Rahul Gandhi displays his toxic masculinity

Congress President Rahul Gandhi today let the world know that behind the ‘feminist’, women empowerment enthusiast, hides a sexist, misogynist man who is just very good at hiding his toxic masculinity. While addressing a farmers’ rally in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi brought up his rhetorics on Rafale deal again, except this time instead of just lying he very subtly let out his prejudices known.


Rahul Gandhi said that the prime minister who boasted of a 56-inch chest did not attend the court of the public, that is the Parliament. “We demolished the Defence Minister’s speech. The prime minister, who has 56-inch-chest, asked a woman to defend him,” he said.

This in a way goes out to show that Rahul Gandhi is hurt more than the person who gave a fitting reply to his lies was a woman, irrespective of the fact that the woman was India’s first full-time woman Defence Minister. No, Indira Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother, was not the first Defence Minister. Handling the portfolio which you allocate to yourself when you are the Prime Minister of a country isn’t the same as being a full-time minister.

Perhaps that is why Rahul Gandhi and his band of clowns got personal with Sitharaman and made personal remarks on her. Gandhi is not the first Congress leader to make sexist remarks against women.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh had caught the spotlight a few years back when while praising a fellow party secretary, Meenakshi Natrajan at a rally in Madhya Pradesh he referred to her as ‘a 100 percent tunch maal’. (Translated from Bhojpuri, the remark roughly means ‘100 percent sexy woman’.)

Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam had also raised strife by bad-mouthing BJP MP Smriti Irani in December 2012, when assembly election results of Gujarat was announced saying, “It’s only four days of your entry into politics and you have become a political analyst. Aap toh TV pe thumke lagati thi, Aaj chunavi vishleshak ban gayi.” (You used to dance on TV screen, now you are a political analyst?)

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘asking a woman to defend him’ reeks of toxic masculinity which derides a woman and reduces the post of the Defence Minister to a woman. Just as Rahul Gandhi had wondered back in 2017 that Sangh women don’t wear shorts. Addressing a rally in the then poll-bound Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi had said that BJP thinks as long as women stay quiet, they don’t say anything, they are good.


He had then asked whether anyone had seen women associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wear shorts.

A politician who aspires to be the prime minister of the world’s largest democracy likes to judge women by their clothes. He gets rattled when women speak. When they shut him up with facts. When they expose his lies. And perhaps, to quote the Congress President himself, “jab tak mahila chup rahe, kuch bole na tab tak mahila theek hai jaise hi mahila ne muh khola usko chup karvao.“

The way forward for India: Targeted Basic Income

Karan
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The way forward for India: Targeted Basic Income

There has been a lot of talk regarding India’s agricultural sector. A major focus has been on the intent of the government to double the income of the farmers in a time-bound manner. The government recently decided to increase the MSP and implement the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendation as a step towards the objective of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022.

An analysis by Dr. Surjit Bhalla and me in a paper revealed that the growth rate of prices, after the implementation of the high MSPs is 11 per cent as against 12 per cent in the preceding year. This shows that somehow MSP is not the best policy tool at providing income support. Our paper discusses at length the problems of the price policy thus, clearly, we need a new policy instrument to provide our farmers’ income support.

The choice of this new policy instrument is very clear, it should come under the Direct Benefit Transfer framework in the form of a Targeted Basic Income. Dr Bhalla presented the possibility of such a transfer in 2000 while former Chief Economic Advisor, Dr Arvind Subramanian had advocated for cash transfers in 2008 and for a Universal Basic Income in the Economic Survey of 2016-17. While a Universal Basic Income may not be possible, however, the idea did initiate a much-needed policy discussion on the possibility of such a scheme.

The recent paper by Dr Bhalla and me revealed that there are multiple propositions for such a basic income and the first step towards implementation of such a scheme would be to identify who would be the beneficiaries of such a scheme. There has been a recent discussion for a monthly income scheme for all farmers that is linked to the size of the farms- this would be an extension of the Rythu Bandhu scheme. This scheme would cover all farmers and cost approximately 2.8 lakh Crores to the Indian Government or 2.1 percentage of the GDP. The problem with such a scheme is that since it’s linked to the farm holding size, the larger the farm size, the higher the transfer of income thus, such a scheme can sharpen the rural inequality.

Further, another important question is should income support only be provided to the farmers and not the poor. The problem with a unilateral transfer to all farmers means that even rich farmers tend to get benefit from such a scheme while it would come at the cost of the urban poor. It is not ethically correct to ignore the poor while we direct the resources towards the “rich” or above poverty line farmers.

Thus, if a targeted basic income scheme is designed, it should cover the poor and not just rural but also the urban poor. The next question was what the transfer amount should be. To ensure that the real value of transfer remains the same, the urban monthly transfer comes to be Rs. 620 per month while rural monthly transfer comes to be Rs. 530. This is because the cost of living in urban areas is higher than in rural areas.

Based on the World Bank’s criteria for moderate poverty line, India has 33 per cent of its people below the poverty line. Thus, the transfer scheme should be designed to target these individuals on a monthly basis. The cost of such a transfer program also comes to Rs. 2.8 lakh Crores which is exactly the cost of implementation of a nation-wide extension of the Rythu Bandhu like scheme. Thus, by incurring the same amount of money, the government can target all the poor in India rather than target all the farmers.

As is the case, the expense of government on fuel and fertilizer subsidies along with the employment generation programs such as MNREGA comes to be 2 per cent of the GDP and the cost to uplift a person from poverty under such programs is extremely higher than the proposed targeted basic income program. The Targeted Basic Income would ensure that it removes all leakages from schemes such as PDS (PDS has up to 70 per cent of leakages) and it ensures that resources are better targeted to the poor in India.

With over 430 schemes under the DBT framework, we are already half-way there, so it is about time that the government makes the switch towards such a transfer program.

(This article is based upon the paper “Towards a Targeted Basic Income Policy for India” by Dr Surjit S. Bhalla and Karan Bhasin. The entire paper can be accessed by clicking here)

Congress’ Mahagathbandhan dream suffers another jolt as Naveen Patnaik declares BJD will not join

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ Mahagathbandhan dream suffers another jolt as Naveen Patnaik declares BJD will not join

Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, has declared that the Biju Janata Dal will not be a part of the Mahagathbandhan for the General Elections later this year. He said that the BJD will “continue with our policy of equidistance”  from the two national parties.


“I want to clarify that as far as the Mahagathbandhan is concerned, the Biju Janata Dal is not a part of it,” Patnaik told reporters on Wednesday in Bhubaneswar. “We will continue with our policy of equidistance from the BJP and the Congress,” he said.

Patnaik’s declaration, although along expected lines, will crush the Congress party’s ambitions in Odisha. In Uttar Pradesh, it will have to sacrifice major ground if the Mahagathbandhan is to materialize as the Samajwadi Party and BSP have already declared an alliance in the state. In Madhya Pradesh as well, the BSP had announced that it will contest all the seats.

KC Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana, had embarked on countrywide visits to the party heads of regional forces in order to cobble up a Third Front or The Federal Front, which will be free of both BJP and Congress. In Karnataka too, Deve Gowda’s JD(S) has indicated that it is preparing to go to polls without Congress.

Under such circumstances, the Congress party will be very concerned with the possibilities of its proposed Mahagathbandhan materializing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

It is notable here that Naveen Patnaik’s BJD has been ruling in Odisha for almost twenty years now. In 2014 general elections, BJD had swept 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha.

Here are 4 lies being spread about 10% reservation to the economically backward section of society

OpIndia Staff
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Here are 4 lies being spread about 10% reservation to the economically backward section of society

The Narendra Modi government, in a historic move, introduced the 124th constitutional amendment that paved the way for 10% reservation to economically backward people. Thought due to political considerations, several parties had to support the Bill, including Congress, several lies and misrepresentations started being furthered by these political parties and their supporters.

The subject of reservations is a sensitive subject and any lie that gets furthered in its name can create unrest in the country. Hence, it becomes imperative to not only fact-check but ensures that these fallacious claims don’t gather wind.

Lie 1: The 10% reservation will accrue only to upper castes or Savarnas

The mainstream media can be largely held responsible for spreading this lie. While before this Bill was tabled, most people were speculating whether the reservation would be limited to upper castes or would encompass the general category as a while, several media persons continued to spread this lie even after the Bill was tabled in the parliament.

Nistula Hebbar, senior journalist with The Hindu, said the reservations were for ‘uppar castes’ even thought she had tweeted a copy of the original bill moved in Parliament.


Other journalists and media houses too spread this lie liberally.


However, the truth is that in the Bill itself, the words ‘Upper caste’ finds no place at all. This 10% reservation is aimed at economically backward sections regardless of caste, creed and religion. Perhaos the journalists are peddling this fake news because now that it has been passed, the demands for caste based reservation and that of Muslim reservation would not find any traction or legal sanction. Any other category except the SC, ST, OBC etc would need to avail of the 10% quota if they meet the financial backwardness criteria.

Lie 2: Modi government is planning to eventually phase out reservation for SC, ST and OBCs

Several politicians including Arvind Kejriwal, Congress’ Jignesh Mevani and others spread the lie that ‘they had spoken to several people from RSS’ who had said that this 10% reservation for the poor is just a starting point. The BJP’s next step would be to phase out reservation for OBC, SC and ST. This lie was busted by us. 

The BJP government has reiterated several times that they do not intend to tamper with the existing 49.5% reservation already granted to socially weaker sections of the society.

Lie 3: The 10% reservation Bill breached the 50% reservation limit

We covered this aspect comprehensively too. The 10% reservation bill has been introduced by a Constitutional amendment that introduces Article 15 (6) and Article 16 (6). The 50% reservation limit pertains only to caste based reservation and this 10% reservation pertains the economically backward people which has never come up for discussion to begin with. Hence, the 50% reservation limit, that pertains only to caste based reservation according to the Indra Sawhney judgement, won’t get breached with this introduction of 10% reservation.

If at all the Bill is appealed in Supreme Court, the Court will have to evaluate the need for this 10% reservation independent of the 50% reservation limit set for socially backward classes.

Lie 4: ‘Individuals’ who earn less then Rs. 8 Lac per annum will be able to avail of this reservation

This is patently untrue. The Rs. 8 Lac per annum limit pertains to an entire family and not an individual. This limit is also in tune with the existing ‘creamy layer’ norms applicable to the 50% reservation for backward classes.

The ‘creamy layer’ criteria was defined as annual family income from all sources. n 1971, it was Rs. 1,00,000. Im 1993, it was increased to Rs. 2,50,000. It was revised against in 2004 to Rs. 4,50,000, Rs. 6,00,000 in 2013 and Rs. 8,00,000 in 2017.

The 10% reservation introduced by the Modi government adheres to the creamy layer criteria and hence, the metric is that of a family and not of an individual.

One must realise that for a family that earns Rs. 8 Lakh per annum, after standard deductions, the tax liability is miniscule. And hence, the argument that if a family pays that amount in tax they cannot be considered poor is incorrect.

One must also realise that inflation and cost of living has to be taken into account. How the Governemnt plans to impliment the scheme is another matter which has not yet been spelt out in clear terms, but these glaring lies which are politically motivated in order to create discord in the society must be called out.

Punjab: Debt-ridden farmer commits suicide as his loan does not meet Congress government’s loan waiver criteria

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Debt-ridden farmer commits suicide as his loan does not meet Congress government’s loan waiver criteria

There seems to be no end to the unfortunate farmer suicides in the Congress-ruled states, as another debt-ridden farmer of Patiala, Punjab was found hanging himself from a ceiling fan on Sunday evening, as per reports.

According to reports, a 40-year-old debt-ridden farmer Gurmel Singh allegedly committed suicide after he was unable to repay the farm loans. In his suicide note, the victim cited mounting debts as the reason and also stated that the state government did not provide any relief.

“I am committing suicide due to the burden of the loan and the state government is responsible for my suicide,” Gurmel Singh wrote in his two-page suicide note.

Reportedly, Singh had availed a loan of Rs 4 lakh against his two-acre land and was expecting relief from the state government. The villagers said that Gurmel Singh did not get any relief from the state government and was distressed like other farmers as they could not fulfill the conditions of the crop loan waiver scheme.

The deceased named six persons and a firm in the suicide note for not making his payments related to a home-run battery shop.

The police have registered a case against the six persons and the firm under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC. Those booked are Parminder Singh, Bhinder Singh, Dutt, Gora Singh, Jagtar Singh, and Dharma Singh.

Harmel Singh of the farmers’ union BKU Ugrahan, said, “A case should also be registered against the state government. The Congress government has failed to fulfill its poll promise of a complete loan waiver. Farmers who have taken a loan above Rs 2 lakhs are not being considered for the waiver.”

Recently, another farmer in Bathinda had committed suicide due to the loan burden. Ironically, just days ago, Punjab Congress leaders had claimed that PM Modi is wrong to criticise the Punjab government as they have cleared the loans of lakhs of farmers in their state.

Family members of the victim today held a protest against the police for inaction against those responsible for his suicide. However, Gurmeet Singh, Station House Officer, Kotwali, Nabha, said, “We have not made any arrests, but investigations are underway.”

Rahul Gandhi led Congress which came to power in various states promising several sops of loan waivers, high MSP to the farmers seems to have started on a very bad note. The politics of false promises of loan-waiver by the Congress party has already taken three lives in Madhya Pradesh.

In addition to this, rumors of another loan-waiver scam have been brewing in the state of Rajasthan as farmers have accused Congress of involving in a huge scam after thousands of fake names appeared in the list of beneficiaries. The Congress governments in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are also facing severe outrage from the farmers within weeks of their government formation, as both governments in the respective states had created a crisis by mismanaging the supply of urea.

BCCI issues showcause notice to cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for sexist remarks

OpIndia Staff
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BCCI issues showcause notice to cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for sexist remarks

The BCCI has issued a show-cause notice to cricketers Hardik Pandya and K.L. Rahul for their sexist remarks during their appearance at Koffee With Karan, a talk show hosted by Karan Johar.


“We have sent show cause notices to Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul for their comments. They have been given 24 hours to give an explanation,” Chairman of the Committee of Administrators of the BCCI, Vinod Rai, told PTI. As per reports, the BCCI is also considering barring cricketers from such shows.

Pandya took to Twitter on Wednesday to apologise for the comments he had made on the show. He said, “After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone who I may have hurt in any way. Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone’s sentiments. Respect.”


In the show, Pandya had boasted about sleeping with women and he had spoken of them in a disrespectful tone. At one point, he said in response to a question, “I like to watch and observe how they (women) move. I’m little from the black side so I need to see how they move.”

When asked what happened if two people liked the same women, Rahul replied that it was up to the woman. But Pandya said, “Nahi nahi aisa kuch nahi hai, talent pe hota hai. Jisko mila woh leke jao. It is on talent.” Pandya’s remarks were widely criticised by people who believed his comments were sexist and misogynistic.

While some people were offended by his remarks on women, cricket fans were furious that the cricketers had declared Virat Kohli a better batsman than the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who is worshipped as a God of the game by almost every Indian cricket fan.

The BCCI has taken a good step in issuing a show-cause notice to the two cricketers over the remarks, many people think. After the incident, the Board is considering banning cricketers from appearing on such shows. Pandya’s comments were out of order and reflect poorly on the whole team. Well-wishers of the game believe that Cricket provides sufficient scope for controversies, the whole team should be spared those generated by extremely unproductive talk shows.

TMC MP Saumitra Khan joins BJP, more TMC MPs “in touch” claims BJP leader Mukul Roy

OpIndia Staff
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TMC MP Saumitra Khan joins BJP, more TMC MPs “in touch” claims BJP leader Mukul Roy

Saumitra Khan, Member of Parliament from the Trinamool Congress, has formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party as per reports.


The senior TMC leader’s move to join the BJP will be a jolt to Mamata Banerjee ahead of the Lok Sabha elections later this year. The BJP has its eye set on Bengal and is looking to make huge gains in the Mamata’s own backyard.

Even more of a concern for the TMC is the fact that BJP leader and former TMC leader Mukul Roy has claimed that at least 5 more MPs were in touch with him and wanted to join the BJP ahead of the general elections.

There have been reports earlier of TMC cadres joining the saffron party in huge numbers. The BJP was also reported to be making gains in erstwhile Maoist bastions and tribal areas in the state. BJP President Amit Shah had also predicted that the party will win 22 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee certainly has been feeling the pressure and has been forced to play the BJP’s game. In 2018, a year after the party had accused the BJP of fueling communal divide through its celebration of Ram Navami, the TMC too announced that it will be celebrating the festival. The RSS claimed it as a moral victory.

Predictably enough, the rise of BJP in the state has unleashed a spell of political violence in the state which peaked during the Panchayat elections. However, despite all that, it appears the BJP continues to rise and rise in the erstwhile communist state. The TMC’s MP from Bishnupur joining the BJP is further proof that Mamata’s attempts at thwarting the BJP haven’t been very successful thus far.

Suspected Pakistani spy arrested from the Arunachal Pradesh border

OpIndia Staff
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Suspected Pakistani spy arrested from the Arunachal Pradesh border

The Military Intelligence Unit of the Indian Army has arrested a man named Nirmal Rai from the Kibithu village of Arunachal Pradesh. Nirmal is charged with sharing sensitive information with the Pakistan spy agency ISI. Nirmal was associated with the army as a porter from the last couple of months and worked in Kibithu and Dichu, the last border villages of Arunachal Pradesh.

Nirmal worked as a porter with the Army in the border villages of Kibithu and Dichu. Army hires porters occasionally to transport their and luggage and equipment to different locations. However, thorough background verification is done before employing locals as porters. As per reports, Nirmal was a resident of Tinsukhia village in Assam. He was reportedly in contact with an ISI handler.

Acting on a tip-off the Army arrested Rai and handed him over to the police. He has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Various pictures of sensitive Army installations and bridges were found on his now impounded phone. His phone has been seized and. Apart from this, specific confidential information was also found on his mobile phone.

The investigative agencies claim that Rai was contacted by a Dubai man to carry out espionage activities for the Pakistani spy agency. Rai, who worked earlier at a burger shop, was trained in taking photographs and passing sensitive information by this ISI agent. As per preliminary reports, sensitive information about Army deployment and location, weapons information and number of Artillery installations in Kibithu was passed on to his Dubai based handler.

“We have information that Nirmal had correspondence with an Indonesian woman living in Dubai and a man from Dubai who later turned him into an ISI mole. We are in the process to determine what information has been shared to Pakistan and how many people are in his spy network,” an intelligence officer said. The Military Intelligence Unit has initiated the probe to see if he was working alone or had any more fellow collaborators working with him.

In recent times, there has been a spurt in the espionage activities carried out in sensitive locations of strategic importance. A few months back, an Engineer at Brahmos facility in Nagpur was arrested for alleged spying and passing on sensitive information to his ISI handlers.

Did the Rafale deal not go through during the UPA because of dealings of ‘Michel mama’, asks PM

OpIndia Staff
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Did the Rafale deal not go through during the UPA because of dealings of ‘Michel mama’, asks PM

Taking a jibe at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today questioned whether the Rafale deal did not go through during the UPA era because of the dealings with ‘Michel mama’.


Prime Minister Modi was referring to AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel who was recently extradited from the UAE. It was recently revealed that Michel had allegedly lobbied on behalf of Eurofighter to influence the Rafale deal.

According to reports, Christian Michel with another middleman Guido Haschke had worked on a plan to lobby for Eurofighter against Rafale in order to win the deal in its favour.  A “strategy paper” which has been seized during the raids has revealed that Christian Michel and Guido Haschke had planned to make Eurofighter secure the deal against the French Rafale in the MMRCA competition.

Reportedly, the strategy paper, which was prepared in 2008, mentions the need for engaging “in an in-country bureaucratical and political navigator” to make Eurofighter win the bid. The document allegedly prepared with consultation from Christian Michel and Guido Haschke further discloses that there were only three candidates for lobbying and only one of the three was available for the job, without naming any one of them.

As per reports, Michel has admitted during interrogation that he did not only lobby on behalf of Agusta but had received money from other defence deals as well. It is alleged that he routed the money through Hawala.

Prime Minister Modi, while addressing the rally in Solapur, Maharashtra, said that the agencies are investigating why the previous deal with Rafale during the UPA tenure did not fall through as people are demanding an answer.

Recently, the Finance Minister had hinted that while the bidding process for the MMRCA was going on during the UPA government, a parallel backroom deal was going on with Eurofighter for probable bribes. Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon had entered the final round of bidding, among the initial 6 contenders, but eventually, Rafale was selected in 2012 on technical parameters.

Earlier also, there were rumours that Rahul Gandhi had met Eurofighter officials during one of his trips to Europe. This was just before Rahul Gandhi started making allegations over the Rafale deal.

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