Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of CPI(M), on Tuesday rejected the idea of projecting anyone as the Prime Minister in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Yechury was attending a meeting with DMK president M.K. Stalin at the latter’s Alwarpet residence in Chennai. Yechury addressed journalists after the meeting. Responding to a question about projecting Rahul Gandhi as the opposition’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Yechury said, “India is a Parliamentary democracy and not a Presidential form.”
“Our Constitution is Parliamentary democracy and only elected members of Parliament can elect the Prime Minister. Not you and me,” he added.
After discussing with Stalin the need to have a secular front, Yechury said, “more than the attitude of the leaders, it is people from the ground who will push all the leaders to come together to save India, and it will happen.”
Responding to a query whether the CPI(M) would be part of an alliance in which the Congress and the Trinamool Congress were members, he said alliances in India would take place at the state level first. “Then, on that basis, the national alliance will emerge. In Tamil Nadu, we have decided that we will be with the DMK-led front in the forthcoming elections,” he said.
Yechury is not the only one to reject the idea of projecting Rahul Gandhi as Prime Ministerial candidate. BSP had earlier made it clear that Rahul Gandhi cannot aspire to become the Prime Minister of the country because of his mother’s foreign origin. A similar view was expressed by Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) minister Kalava Srinivasulu, who said that if the party goes for pre-poll alliance then the party will not accept Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 elections.
Becoming the Prime Ministerial candidate from a grand alliance in the upcoming 2019 elections seems not just a just a distant but an impossible dream for Rahul Gandhi.
The ‘liberal’ cabal has proved that other than the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, any honour bestowed to any other great leader will cause them to almost self-combust. They talk tall about how the Modi government is trying to ‘erase the memory of Nehru’ by simply turning the Nehru Museum into a tribute for all our past Prime Ministers, and also, write outlandish and idiotic op-eds trashing the Statue of Unity which is a tribute to the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhai Patel. This crusade has almost been led by Shekhar Gupta and his website, The Print.
In the quest to somehow belittle the tallest statue in the world dedicated to one of the tallest leaders in the world, Shekhar Gupta’s The Print went completely off the handle.
They published an asinine article by a YouTube blogger, Dhruv Rathee that peddled a fallacious narrative of how it would take 200 years to recover the cost of the statue via the tickets it sold. That calculation itself was debunked considering ticket sales amounted to Rs. 2.1 crores in just the first 10 days. Even so, his argument was based on a false hypothesis and we had debunked that lie earlier.
Shekhar Gupta’s The Print then upped the ante by publishing another ridiculous article. The article was written by one Soniya Agarwal.
The article basically hypothesised that since the Statue of Unity has been constructed in such a “remote location” that it can’t be considered a tourist spot. The author said that it cannot be considered a tourist spot because there are no direct flights and the closest airport is a 100 kms away. Because, of course, tourism is only for the perfumed elite who would want to be airdropped in direct flights and not for average joes who don’t mind taking the bus or the train.
Either way, the author concluded that owing to the distance, the Statue of Unity will not become a tourist spot at all.
This article was published on 31st October. This was the very day the statue was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi.
As already mentioned, following the ridiculous assumptions by The Print led by Shekhar Gupta the Statue of Unity ended up attracting 1 lakh visitors in just 10 days.
With their initial hypothesis being proven as nonsense, The Print decided that it just had to come out with another idiotic article that trumped the idiocy of the previous articles and in the process, debunked their own previous idiocy.
The same author, Soniya Agarwal wrote another article published in Shekhar Gupta’s The Print today that in essence debunked her previous article where she said that the Statue of Unity can never turn into a tourist spot owing to its location.
The article by Soniya in The Print now talks about how the management at Statue of Unity is overwhelmed by the sheer number of tourists.
She writes, “According to officials, 27,000 tourists visited the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, deemed the ‘Iron Man of India’, Saturday, with the footfall dipping slightly to 24,000 Sunday”.
She writes about how the queues are extremely long and how this has led to many arguments between the tourists and management.
She then writes, “The condition of the site has deteriorated within two weeks of its inauguration due to a lack of amenities. At the entry of the ground, which houses the statue, visitors were greeted by drying shrubs and plastic bottles”.
She has, of course, not provided any proof, whether photographs or otherwise for this assertion other than one statement from one supposed tourist.
Soniya Agarwal’s second article in The Print, which debunks her own earlier article in the same publication, is again a litany of assertions that have no proof to back it up. It also goes to prove that The Print has absolutely no editorial standards. The previous article where Soniya claimed that the Statue of Unity can never become a tourist spot has no update telling its readers that their assertions have been proven wrong by the revenue, tourist visit numbers and their latest article.
The Print, essentially, instead of accepting their mistake have published another article that only trashes the Statue of Unity by hook or by crook.
This simply exposes the kind of adulation that The Print harbours for their own propaganda and the terrible lack of editorial standards of a portal that is run by the Chief of the Editor’s Guild of India.
North America’s leading event on geo-strategic matters commences on Friday. The President of the event believes that India, which is the Asian model symbolizing democracy, will ultimately prevail over China, reports Hindustan Times.
Peter Van Praagh, the president spoke in an interview before the Halifax International Security Forum, and said, places such as India have complaints about the lack of “efficiency” when compared to what has been achieved by China, Peter said in his interview. But he described this as a “superficial benefit”.
He said, “It goes a little more slowly in a democracy because you have to build consensus, but fundamentally, I think, India is going to end up being the model in Asia, not China.”
Given China’s current role in global affairs, it’s hardly surprising the Forum in Halifax city in Nova Scotia province has several sessions dedicated to Beijing and its ambitions. But it does not separately look at South Asia in the context of the equation between subcontinental rivals India and Pakistan.
Van Praagh furthered, “I don’t think there’s an India-Pakistan paradigm. It’s a false paradigm. It’s very clear now that Pakistan is a puppet state of the Communist Party of China.”
He added that “there’s no equivalence between India and Pakistan”, and “really, the conversation is not between India and Pakistan, the conversation is India-China relations”.
“Democracies like India, Japan, Korea can offer a better model than what China is offering up,” he said.
Forum in Halifax city does have a few sessions reflecting this angle as they include agendas such as;
Asia Values: A Free and Open Indo-Pacific, Beijing’s Cravings.
Kremlin’s Gremlins: Freedom’s Foes.
Indo-Pacific Security: Battle of the Billions.
The Quad Squad: Asia’s Democracy Defenders.
Former minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar was originally scheduled to represent India at the Forum. His visit was cancelled after he faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment and resigned from his post.
Minister of state, VK Singh would replace Akbar and Indian envoy Vikas Swarup will accompany him to the event.
Admiral Philip S Davidson, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, will be at the Forum for the first time.
The three-day global event, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, begins on Friday. The Halifax International Security Forum, formally hosted by Canada’s national defence minister, will be currently hosted by Indo-Canadian Harjit Sajjan. It will feature nearly 300 participants spanning government, military, think tanks, business and the media from 70 countries.
In poll-bound Rajasthan, as the suspected infighting between Ashok Gehlot camp versus Sachin Pilot camp leads to delay in declaration of nomination list of candidates, two leaders from Congress have decided to have it their way. They have gone ahead and filed their nomination papers without really waiting for the green signal from ‘high command’.
Former Jaisalmer-Barmer Lok Sabha member Harish Chaudhary filed his nominations from Baytoo seat in Barmer. Congress leader Hemaram Chaudhary filed from Gudamalani seat from Barmer. Harish Chaudhary even took out a road show followed by addressing a mass rally claiming his candidature from Congress party. Whereas Hemaram earlier served as revenue minister in the last Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan.
Ashok Gehlot vs. Sachin Pilot
Speculations have been rife that the Rajasthan Congress is divided between the former Rajasthan chief minister and senior leader Ashok Gehlot and son of late Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, Sachin Pilot. However, Pilot had refuted the claims as ‘rumours’ planted by the BJP.
Both leaders are widely believed to be frontrunners in the race of yet to be announced the chief ministerial candidate for Congress. However, until now Congress has dodged the question.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said that if Congress comes to power, either Gehlot or Pilot would be the chief minister in Rajasthan. Other names in the running were CP Joshi and Rameshwar Dudi, but Singhvi’s statement rules out their possibility. However, it is widely believed that Congress is not zeroing in on either of the two to avoid tensions within the party as a run-up to the elections.
Madhya Pradesh internal war
Rajasthan is not the only place where Congress is making news more for the infighting. In Madhya Pradesh, too, swords were drawn between veteran Congress leader and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia over candidate selection. Reportedly matters reached to such level that a committee of Ashok Gehlot, Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel has been constituted to resolve the matter.
Earlier, a poster war had emerged between Scindia and Kamal Nath, another prospective Congress Chief Ministerial candidate in the state. Congress had blamed the BJP for their internal squabble then as well. That time, too, Congress had blamed the BJP for their internal squabble.
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are two of the five states which are going to elections in coming weeks. Rajasthan will vote on 7th December while Madhya Pradesh votes on 28th November. The results for all five states will be declared on 11th December.
It is often assumed that Children’s day, which is celebrated on 14th November every year, is a tribute to our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The popular narrative is that Children’s Day started being celebrated on his birthday day after Nehru’s death to honour him because he loved children.
The same story is repeated by several media houses without a basic fact-check. During Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary and ‘Bal Diwas’, several media houses have repeated this lie ad-nauseum.
NDTV had published an article headlined, “Why Is Children’s Day Celebrated On November 14?” The subtitle of the article read, “Prior to Pandit Nehru’s death in 1964, India celebrated Children’s Day on 20 November, which was observed as the Universal Children’s Day by the United Nations”.
The article went on to say (emphasis added), “But after his death in 1964, it was unanimously decided to celebrate his birthday as Bal Diwas in the country due to his love and affection towards children” and then sprinkles it with some other platitudes.
Financial Express too, in an article about Children’s Day, said (emphasis added), “As per facts, Children’s Day was celebrated on 20 November, which was observed as the Universal Children’s Day by the United Nations. But, after Pandit Nehru’s death in 1964, it was decided to celebrate his birthday as Children’s Day“.
This year too has been no different. News channel Times Now has today published an article on their website that repeats the exact same lie. Indian Express too has published an article that re-enforces the same narrative.
In their report, Indian Express writes (emphasis added), “In India, November 14 started being celebrated as Children’s Day only after Nehru’s demise in 1964. Prior to this, much like other countries, Children’s Day was celebrated on November 20, that is the Universal Children’s Day as declared by the United Nations”.
However, this claim that it was only after Nehru’s death that it was decided unanimously to observe Nehru’s birthday as Children’s Day is patently false.
The real story of Children’s Day is far from what most of the media would have people believe. The story dates back to one VM Kulkarni who was a United Nations Social Welfare Fellow who was carrying out a study on the rehabilitation of children who had been victims of crimes in the UK. He realised that India has no such mechanism to take of underprivileged children.
He got inspired by the fact that in England, June 19, Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, is observed as Flag Day to raise money for Save the Child Fund and suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday too, be observed as Flag Day to raise money.
This report by The Tribune states that his proposal to the UN was accepted, and though Jawaharlal Nehru was ’embarrassed at first’, he accepted it too when his permission was sought.
An international fair was organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in 1951 and it was in 1951 that the day started being observed as Children’s Day.
So not only the first Children’s Day was celebrated on 14th November when Pandit Nehru was alive, it was celebrated after he agreed to the idea.
ICCW was not an independent body as one might believe, either. It was inextricably linked to the political dispensation and the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The first President of ICCW, from 1952 to 1958 was Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. Amrit Kaur became part of Jawaharlal Nehru’s first Cabinet and was the first woman to hold Cabinet rank. She was also a strong moving force behind the establishment of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and became its first president.
The next President of ICCW, from 1958 to 1964 was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself.
Not just historical accounts, there are stamps commemorating ‘Children’s Day’ that were issued as early as 1957, which go on to prove beyond doubt that Children’s Day was celebrated while Pandit Nehru was alive.
I came across commemorative stamps from 1957 with date and Children’s day mentioned on it clearly.
Therefore it is also wrong to claim that prior to the death of Pandit Nehru, Children’s Day was celebrated on 20th November in India – a lie that various media houses have repeated.
It is evident that what started off as a movement for the children by VM Kulkarni, who himself was underprivileged growing up, was morphed into a debacle of political sycophancy, and former PM Jawaharlal Nehru using it for self-glorification just like he didn’t have any problems when awarded Bharat Ratna while being the Prime Minister.
It is said that by 1954, children were asked to raise slogans like ‘Nehru chacha ki jai’ while the Children’s Day celebrations were on.
The celebration of Children’s Day as a means to glorify Pandit Nehru is nothing but a persona created by Nehru courtiers and the Dynasty. VM Kulkarni wanted the day to be celebrated as Flag Day so that funds could be raised for the less privileged. What happened eventually, was ‘Children’s Day’ being celebrated to sing songs about how Nehru loved children and was a paternal figure of Indian politics.
And in the race to glorify the dynasty through ‘Children’s Day’, VM Kulkarni and his legacy was lost.
A human rights lawyer was caught on camera abusing the Air India crew after the crew refused to give her extra drinks.
Irish lady behaves in such an abusive, racist way with @airindiain crew for being refused extra drinks. Very decent AI crew behaviour. Arrested on landing. Wonder if she should have been controlled onboard with handcuffs. @JitiBhargava@Mohan_Rngnathanpic.twitter.com/kSTDmGOEm5
In the video, the unidentified Irish lady is seen talking aggressively to the Air India crew. She identifies herself as an international criminal lawyer and says, “I am working for all your people, the f**king Rohingyas, the f**king people of Asia for four years as international criminal lawyer, didn’t take any money for it, by the way, but you won’t give me a f**king glass of wine. Is that correct?”
Call to boycott Air India
She then goes on to threaten that she will call to boycott Air India for not giving her a bottle of wine. She again asserts that she is a “f**king international criminal lawyer” and refers to the Air India crew as “f**king, stupid c**nts”. She then again demands a bottle of wine “and get it over”. When someone threatened that a legal action could be taken against her, she lost her cool again.
“I am a human rights lawyer. I am an international criminal lawyer to the f**king Palestinian people. You think I am scared? Are you threatening me?” she said, followed by another barrage of abuses before settling back in her business class seat.
The incident took place on 10th November on an Air India flight AI 131 from Mumbai and she was reportedly arrested on landing at Heathrow.
As per reports, the woman was already in an inebriated state after having consumed four quarter bottles of red wine. She increasingly turned unruly and when she demanded more wine, she was declined. She then threatened to push over the dessert trolley and took an open bottle of wine without permission.
Despite warnings, she did not behave herself. In fact, as per the Times of India report, she came and spat on the Air India crew member before twisting her arm and injuring her.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is on a visit to India, his first visit to the country. After arriving on 10th November, he has been several people in the country. On 10th, he met Dalai Lama, whom Jack described as an amazing teacher. On 12th, the Twitter boss met Rahul Gandhi, where Jack was seen showing his tattoos to the Congress president.
On 13th, Jack met prime minister Narendra Modi and posted pictures of the meet on Twitter.
Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for having us today. I enjoyed our conversation about the importance of global conversation. Also: thanks for the ideas for Twitter! pic.twitter.com/aelfOEZ65v
This pictures drew sharp reactions from tweeple in India, who didn’t approve of several things seen in the pictures.
First, Jack was seen sitting cross-legged in front of the Prime Minister, and many people didn’t like it. People pointed to Jack that it is considered rude to sit cross-legged in front of a head of government/state. Many thought that while meeting someone like a Prime minister a more formal sitting posture should be adopted.
Can somebody please tell @jack that it’s utterly rude to sit with crossed legs opposite the head of State. Shall be happy to give you free advise on intercultural communication!
Jack it is not customary to sit as you have done in the photo before an elderly person, leave alone head of the country! Trust you will take this advise in right spirit.
The second point some people noted is the attire of Jack. He was wearing a black hoodie, a pair of black casual trouser which seemed to be leather, and black casual shoes. It was a rather unusual choice of dress, as most people prefer standard formal attire or traditional dress while meeting heads of governments.
Did you @jack really wear a leather trouser at an official engagement with Head of a state ?
Hi Jack. You are meeting a nation’s prime minister. Can’t you go in formal dress? Is India joke for you? Indian beggars r better looking than you. I vl see how u dressed up to see china or Saudi premiers
The third point which attracted most outrage was the presence of Mahima Kaul in the meeting, who is Director of Policy for Twitter India and South Asia. Several people pointed out the fact that Kaul is a known Modi hater, and they objected to her accompanying Jack while meeting PM Modi.
Many Twitter users sent screenshots of Mahima’s past tweets as replies to Jack, which show how she used to abuse Modi earlier. The screenshots also show how she used to praise Rahul Gandhi.
I see the lady @misskaul on right who tweeted rubbish about @narendramodi and she still has a chair for the meeting. Nice on the part of PM to be gracious enough n accommodate ppl and ideologies that disrespect his position and party.
BTW did @misskaul apologize to @narendramodi for running a fake n hate campaign on him?
What ever u do in India … just remember that Modi is your brand ambassador n torch bearer and the main source of revenue generation in India is always on his name!
We had reported last month that after a popular right-leaning spoof maker @Spook_Junkie was suspended by Twitter for unknown reasons, people started to search for political bias in Twitter India. In the process, several anti-Modi, pro-Rahul Gandhi tweets of Mahima Kaul was discovered by many people. Later, Mahima deleted many of such tweets. These tweets show deep-rooted hatred Mahima has for prime minister Modi. It was also discovered that she follows several left-leaning hate-mongering handles, including @AmbedkarCaravan that regularly spews venom against Hindus.
People also called Jack out for Twitter’s self-admitted left-leaning bias and complained about suspending right-wing users while taking no action against abuses by left-wing users. Some people also complained about ‘shadow banning’ right-wing users, which means a user is not banned by Twitter, but their tweets don’t appear in the timeline of their followers. Such shadow-banned users also don’t appear in search results and auto-complete suggestions.
did u tell modi, how @TwitterIndia is shadow blocking RW’s? did u tell how BIASED your platform is?
Even US president Donald Trump had attacked Twitter for this practice, and Twitter had admitted that it does filter users but blamed an algorithm for the same.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla declared his assets while filing nominations for the Assembly polls scheduled to take place on November 28.
According to the affidavit submitted by Thanhawla, he has moveable properties worth Rs. 1,28,06,007, Rs. 2.80 crore worth of agricultural land and Rs. 20 lakh worth of non-agricultural land. Apart from this, Thanhawla has Rs. 5 lakh in cash, a plot of land on which he has constructed a building at New Town, Kolkata, worth around Rs. 3.10 crore, and a residential house at Zarkawt in Aizawl, the value of which he has not declared.
Mr Thanhawla’s wife, Lal Riliani, has Rs. 3 lakh in cash, movable properties worth Rs.92,13,740.47 and agricultural land worth Rs. 25 lakh. She also has non-agricultural land worth Rs. 15 lakh.
People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) president Vanlalruata also filed his affidavit, according to which he owns agricultural land worth around Rs 7.50 lakh and has Rs. 30,000 cash in hand, while his wife has Rs 539 in her bank account and Rs. 5,000 in cash. Vanlalruata has two bank accounts and the total money in these accounts amounts to only Rs 2,175. He is also his party’s chief ministerial candidate.
According to the affidavit filed by former two-time Chief Minister and Mizo National Front (MNF) president Zoramthanga, he has Rs 10 lakh in cash. He also has immoveable properties, including cars and bank accounts, worth Rs 57.22 lakh. He owns agricultural land worth Rs 20 lakh and a plot of land and a building at Chaltlang locality in Aizawl worth Rs 1.25 crore.
Zoramthanga’s wife Roneihsangi has Rs 7 in cash and Rs 43,756 in her bank accounts. She also owns moveable properties and a plot of land and a building worth Rs 1.5 crore at Ramhlun Venglai locality in Aizawl. Zoramthanga’s son and daughter have Rs 28,398 each in their bank accounts.
State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president John V Hluna declared movable assets, including bank accounts, worth Rs 20,05,147, in the affidavit filed by him. He also owns agricultural and non-agricultural lands worth Rs 1.30 crore.
The chief ministerial candidate of Zoram People’s Movement’s (ZPM), Lalduhoma declared Rs 70,000 cash in hand and movable properties, including bank accounts, worth Rs 18.34 lakh. Lalduhoma’s total properties are worth Rs 1.9 crore.
Attorney General KK Venugopal on Monday strongly objected on CJI’s methods to deal with cases. According to him, Justice Gogoi is hastily doing away with the cases without hearing out the arguments.
In a hearing of a case on Monday involving AG Venugopal, Justice Gogoi was predisposed to quash it. However, miffed AG Venugopal sternly argued with Justice Gogoi forcing him to reverse his decision.
Venugopal was arguing in behalf of Rajasthan government. The case was about payment of interest in case of delay in depositing entry tax by a company.
AG Venugopal argued, “My clients have come from far away parts of the country but Your Lordships don’t even hear their arguments and dismiss cases saying you have read it. This is not the way, at least at the admission stage they should be heard.”
Heeding to AG’s outburst, CJI Gogoi reversed his decision and acceded to hear the matter after pending cases were dealt with. CJI Gogoi said, “Alright Mr. Venugopal. We take your statement in the right spirit. You may now argue.”
After Justice Gogoi assumed the charge of the apex court, he has been steadfast in his approach to decline mentioning and reject the dilatory tactics of adjournments. However, this alacrity wasn’t displayed in the hearing of the Ram Janam Bhoomi case whose verdict was moved to January 2019. In fact, the SC, yesterday, declined early hearing of pleas in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case. One wonders why his approach is not applied indiscriminately in all cases.
Ironically, Justice Gogoi has also stated that he has devised a plan to deal with the pendency of the cases.
Continuing with his policy of spreading lies about the Rafale deal, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has gone ahead and has lied about a publicly available document. In a tweet posted today, he has said that Modi has accepted that he stole in the Rafale deal in the affidavit filed with the Supreme Court giving detail of decision-making process in the Rafale deal. He also wrote that govt has accepted in the affidavit that they changed the contract without consulting Indian Air Force and put ₹30,000 crore in the pocket of Ambani.
सुप्रीम कोर्ट में मोदीजी ने मानी अपनी चोरी।
हलफ़नामे में माना कि उन्होंने बिना वायुसेना से पूछे कांट्रैक्ट बदला और 30,000 करोड़ रूपया अंबानी की जेब में डाला।
We are not sure whether the Congress President has read the affidavit or not, but we can tell that the affidavit does not mention anything that Rahul Gandhi has tweeted.
Allegation 1: Air Force was not consulted
There was no question of not consulting the air force. The Indian Air Force was completely involved in the entire bidding process for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) that India planned to buy during the UPA rule. Many people don’t realise that the deal to buy 36 Rafale jets is not different from the original deal to buy 126 jets. It is just an extension of the original deal. If it was a separate standalone deal, it had to start from the beginning.
In 2007, UPA government invited bids to buy 126 fighter jets, as per the requirement of IAF. There were six bidders in the deal, and Dassault had emerged as the winner in 2012 after a long process. The Indian Air force was an integral part of this entire process. The UPA government did not select Rafale on its own, IAF did the evaluation of the contender planes and selected Rafale.
The original bid was to buy 18 Rafale planes directly from Dassault, while the rest 108 was to be made in India by HAL. Both the components of the deal were different. As there were differences over the planes that were to be made by HAL, the deal could not be finalised.
While the deal remained stalled for 3 years, the urgency of new jets for IAF was increasing. The number of fighter planes belonging to IAF was decreasing due to crashes and retirements. At the same time, India’s enemy nations were adding fighters at a rapid pace. Due to this reason, the Modi government decided to go ahead with the direct purchase of Rafale jets from Dassault as per the original deal, while dropping the HAL made part of the deal.
Only change the government made was double the size of this order from the original 18 jets to 36, which equals 2 squadrons for IAF. The IAF was waiting for 126 jets, which was not coming, now they are at least getting 36 jets. The IAF had already selected the Rafale jet, so there was no question of not consulting them in selecting the planes for buying.
The affidavit filed by the government says the Defence Procurement Policy of 2013 was followed in every step of the decision-making process. The 36 planes were ordered as per the process already completed during the earlier bid for 126 jets. The top decision-making body in DPP is the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). DAC includes the chief of staff of the Air Force, along with other two service chiefs and top bureaucrats in the Defence Ministry.
The affidavit also informs that the negotiation for the 36 jets was then done by an Indian Negotiation Team (INT). INT was headed by the Deputy Chief of Air Staff. This means the air force was deeply involved in the discussion for the deal, contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s allegation. As informed by Dassault CEO, India secured a discount of 9% for the 36 jets compared to the price India was paying for the direct purchase of 18 jets in the original deal.
Allegation 2: Modi gave Anil Ambani ₹30,000 crore
Despite being refuted innumerable times, Rahul Gandhi still repeats the lie that Modi has given ₹30,000 to Anil Ambani. No, the affidavit filed by the government of India does not make any such statement. In fact, the affidavit says that there are 35 vendors in the deal with offset obligations. This includes two main vendors, Dassault and weaponry supplier MBDA, and their 21 and 12 tier-I sub-vendors respectively.
A portion of Indian government’s affidavit on the Rafale deal
The affidavit also clearly mentions that the share of Dassault Aviation in total offset is 19.9% only. This means, even if entire offset obligation of Dassault goes to Reliance, that would be less than ₹6,000 crore, not ₹30,000 crore. But Dassault has not given its entire business to Reliance, it has set up a 49:51 joint venture with Reliance, where the total investment will be ₹800 crore, 49% of which will be invested by Dassault and rest 51% to be put by Reliance.
This means Reliance is not getting any money in their pocket from Dassault. Dassault will be investing around ₹400 crore in the JV, and Reliance will have to invest a similar amount. The allegation of Anil Ambani getting ₹30,000 crore from Dassault has no base at all. Dassault CEO Eric Trappier has also added that the share of Dassault Reliance JV in its offset obligation will be 10% only.
It is time Rahul Gandhi stops making such wild allegations and start playing the role of a responsible opposition leader.
