Hollande remarks over choice of Reliance as
offset partner in the Rafale deal raise a storm
By HarvinderAhuja
Former French President Francois Hollande’s remarks concerning a multi-billion dollar warplane contract that India signed with that country in 2016 have all the making of a Bofors for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though it may not happen eventually, the statement does have the potential of denting the ruling party’s prospects in an election year.
Hollande told news website Mediapart from on September 21 that his Government was told to partner with a specific Indian firm, Reliance Group, for additional ‘offset’ investments. “We were given no choice. We took the partner which was appointed”, said the French leader. The remarks go contrary to what the Modi Government has been maintaining all along about the selection of Anil Ambani’s group as an offset partner overlooking the claims of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). .
Hollande was the President of France when PM Modi signed the $8.7 billion deal in Paris for Dassault Aviation Rafale aircraft. As part of the deal, Dassult was to give offset contracts worth 50 per cent of the deal value to an Indian partner. Later it emerged that Ambani’s Reliance Defence, a company with no previous experience in aerospace, had been chosen as the partner.
The Opposition, led by the Congress, had been alleging impropriety in the selection of Reliance and seeking a probe into this blatant instance of ‘crony capitalism’. Its demand for setting up of a JPC on the matter has been squarely dismissed by the Government, which has been sticking to its claim that it played no role in awarding of the offset contract.
With Hollande’s sensational disclosure, a fresh storm has broken out and the Government’s claims have come under further scrutiny. When the report appeared first, the official Twitter account for the Defence Ministry said it was “being verified”. Soon thereafter, the Government’s propaganda team got into action, started deflecting or obfuscating the issue and even launched a counter offensive. As has been the practice, the Prime Minister chose to remain silent.
The first to come out was Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who hit back at both Congress president Rahul Gandhi and French leader Hollande with a ‘whodunit’ blog post on Facebook.”I think he (Rahul Gandhi) is on some kind of revenge mode… I won’t be surprised if the whole thing is orchestrated,” said Jaitley. He was referring to the August 30 tweet of Rahul Gandhi in which the latter had said, “It’s (Rafale) also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks.”
On Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saw an “international dimension” in the Rafale controversy and “certain desperation” in the Congress to sully the image of the Modi Government. On the same day, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra brought in the more familiar Pak angle by saying, “The Congress and Pakistan have this commonality that they have frustration with Modi and their only aim is to remove Modi anyway from Indian politics.”
While all these statements are making catchy bytes for TV channels, none is actually denying what Hollande has said. There are still many unanswered questions about the Government’s role in Reliance getting the contract and the only person who can answer is the Prime Minister. But he is silent. People would like to know why and what stage HAL went out of contention and Ambani’s firm was picked over the state-owned entity.
It is in public domain that just two days before the deal was announced by Modi in his typically flamboyant style, the then Foreign Secretary had briefed newspersons in Delhi that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was a contender for the offset contract. Then, how did it lost out and how Reliance got chosen. Given the miserable financial situation of Reliance Defence and its lack of experience in manufacturing, it is highly unlikely that Dassault would pick it as the offset partner. Then, was the decision a fait accompli for the French, as suggested by their former President?
All these are questions which the Prime Minister Modi needs to answer. The announcement of the deal was made after his meeting with Hollande, who is now saying something contrary to what we have been hearing from our Government. The truth has become a casualty.
People still remember how a Howitzer gun deal with Swedish arms manufacturer AB Boforshad rocked the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Government in the late eighties. It is up to the present Government to prevent Rafale from becoming another Bofors by coming out with the truth.
(The author is consulting Editor from New Delhi and can be reached at harrysnigi@gmail.com)
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