Rahul Gandhi takes to poetry to attack Narendra Modi government over Rafale deal

The Congress chief took to poetry to attack the Modi govt over the Rafale deal.

CHITRAKOOT: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took to poetry to attack the Narendra Modi government at the Centre over the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France.

Rahul, whose party has launched a major offensive against the Centre and termed the Rafale deal as the biggest defence scam of the country, tweeted a poetry in which he sought to explain how PM Modi and industrialist Anil Ambani snatched the Rafale deal from HAL – the Indian aerospace major. 

The Gandhi scion also accused the Modi government of doublespeak and complicity with the Reliance Group over Rafale deal. 

The Congress chief further alleged that the money power was used to snatch the deal which dealt a major blow to the Indian armed forces.

Accusing the Modi government of working with a vendetta, the Congress president said the BJP regime was shunting and suppressing the voice of all those who objected to the deal. 

The Congress chief was apparently referring to the alleged shunting of a senior official, who had indicated the loss in the Rafale jet deal, by the Modi government. The Congress party had alleged that the government, in fact, rewarded his boss who overruled him, saying there were "perks of pleasing" that covered "corruption tracks."

"The Modi government shunted the whistle-blower Joint Secretary (Air) who questioned the loss to government treasury by paying 300 per cent extra for 36 Rafale. Director General Smita Nagaraj, who overruled the joint secretary, was made a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Perks of pleasing Modi government cover corruption tracks," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said in one of his tweets. 

मोदी-अंबानी का देखो खेल
HAL से छीन लिया राफेल
धन्नासेठों की कैसी भक्ति
घटा दिया सेना की शक्ति
जिस अफसर ने चोरी से रोका
ठगों के सरदार ने उसको ठोका
पिट्ठुओं को मिली शाबाशी
सेठों ने उड़ती चिड़िया फाँसी

जन-जन में फैल रही है सनसनी
मिलकर रोकेंगे लुटेरों की कंपनी https://t.co/XJPbpVoAj3 — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 27, 2018

''The government of India says that since Rafale deal was a secret pact the price can't be revealed. When Fthe rench President was here, I met him and asked if there is a secret pact on the price? He said 'no', if PM Modi wants to reveal he can do so,'' the Congress president, who was in Chitrakoot on Thursday, said. 

The latest attack from Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue came a day after French President confirmed that the defence deal for the purchase of French-manufacture fighter jets was a government-to-government deal.

In a big boost to the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, French President Emmanuel Macron had on Wednesday reaffirmed that the Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France was a government-to-government deal.

Extending support to PM Modi, who is at the centre of Opposition attack over the controversial defence deal, Macron also said that the Indian PM is right in claiming so. 

However, he refused to say more on the defence deal.

''PM Modi is right. That's a Govt-to-Govt discussion. We have a very strong partnership between India and France regarding Defence. I don’t want to comment on any other thing,'' French President Emmanuel Macron told ANI.

The French President had earlier distanced himself from the controversy, saying he was not in power when the multi-billion dollar agreement for the 36 fighter jets was signed between New Delhi and Paris.

While addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, Macron was asked if the Indian Government had at any point told France or Dassault - the French aerospace major - that they had to accept Reliance Defence as the Indian partner for the Rafale deal.

India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore, nearly one-and-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposal during a visit to Paris. 

The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September 2019.

While Prime Minister Modi has not spoken on the Rafale controversy himself, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other senior ministers have asserted that people of India have put a closure to the issue, saying there were no irregularities.

Prime Minister Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with the then French president Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris. 

The final deal was sealed on September 23, 2016.

The French government has said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners.

The Rafale deal has landed in the trouble waters after a report in the French media quoted former president Hollande as saying that the selection of the Indian company in the Rafale deal was done at the behest of New Delhi.

Hollande said that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the partner for the French aerospace giant in the Rafale deal and France did not have a choice.

His comments to 'Mediapart', a French-language publication, triggered sharp reactions from the opposition parties which have been accusing the government of massive irregularities in the deal and benefiting Reliance Defence Limited despite not having any experience in the aerospace sector.

The report quoted Hollande as saying, "It was the Indian Government that proposed this service group, and Dassault which negotiated with (Anil) Ambani. We had no choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us."

In its statement, Dassault Aviation said the contract for the supply of 36 Rafale jets is a government-to-government agreement, adding, "It provides for a separate contract in which Dassault Aviation commits to make compensation investments (offsets) in India worth 50 percent of the value of the purchase."

The company also said its partnership with Reliance has led to the creation of the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint-venture in February 2017. 

It is to be noted that the Congress has been demanding a JPC probe into the Rafale deal, which it said was the biggest defence scam of the country.

However, after the French President's confirmation, the ruling BJP has hit back at the Congress party and accused it of running a smear campaign to defame the Modi government at the international level.

(With PTI inputs)