Press Briefing in AICC on Rafale Scam– 3-January-2019

Statement Issued byDr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Spokesperson, AICC

Defence Minister is Mum & Shri Jaitley has become the ‘Defensive Minister’ for Modiji

Modi Govt has bunked and flunked his Rafale Exam!

चौकीदारफुर्रहै !

The Congress President, Shri Rahul Gandhi completely unmasked the lies of PM Modi yesterday, whilethe latter bunked the open book Rafale Exam in Parliament. Congress party directed pointed questions at PM Modi but he hid behind his advocates who did a terrible job in defending him.The Finance Minister, instead of the Defence Minister, was seen spewing manufactured facts and rhetoric on the floor of the House, while also debasing the dignity of his office with jibes that have no place in the hallowed halls of the Parliament.

Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi, in his address post Shri. Jaitley’s response, not only disproved the goebbelsian lies of the Minister but did it by using the selfsame Ministers Statements. The BJP has perpetually been in damage control mode since news of the Rafale Scam broke and it is only a matter of time before the lid is blown off the top of this scam of unprecedented proportions. While the Congress President has exposed the massive fallacies in the speech, we would like to further highlight a few more falsehoods that the Blogger Minister sought to perpetuate through his speech which lacked as much truth as it did dignity.

Modi Govt has time and again said that they cannot reveal the commercial price of the 36 Rafale deal, in yesterday’s Press Conference, Congress President, Shri Rahul Gandhi busted that claim by quoting Shri ArunJaitley himself. Shri Jaitley emphatically stated that the deal cost Rs58000 Crore. That means, the per aircraft cost of Modiji’s deal is Rs 1611.11 Cr. – Which is exactly what the Congress party was claiming.

Shri ArunJaitley claimed that Congress-UPA was buying only ‘Bare Aircrafts’, but yesterday, Shri Gandhi made the Request For Proposal (RFP) 2007 public. UPA was buying a Fully Loaded Plane along with all the avionics, India Specific Enhancements & Weaponry.  These specifications were not changed by Modi Govt (Joint Statement of Modi- Francois Hollande, dated 10th April, 2015).

Why is Modi Govt lying on the increase in price from Rs 526 Cr to Rs 1611Cr? Is paying 300% extra a better deal for India or for Modiji?

Apart from what Shri Gandhi said, there are other points on which Shri Jaitley miserably floundered.

  1. Supreme Court Verdict

It is unfortunate that Shri Jaitley, being a learned lawyer himself, is misleading the people of this nation and its parliamentarians. Throughout his diatribe he mentioned the Supreme Court verdict as having conclusively decided the matter on Rafale, while it is well known that the court itself has conceded to not having adequate jurisdiction, the court was also misled about information having been given to the PAC, which the Government tried to shoddily cover up after. Modi Govt which lies and perjures itself shouldn’t be preaching about the sanctity of the Supreme Court in order to save its skin.

  1. Urgent Need for Jets

Shri Jaitleystated that there was an urgent need for the jets, while also justifying it with threats from across the border. If we accept that rhetoric, then why did the NDA scrap the UPA deal, which would have seen the Rafale jets arriving in India by 2019, as opposed to 2022 as is envisaged under PM Modi’s deal.

  1. NDA deal 9% Cheaper than UPA

The squadron need of IAF was 126 aircrafts; If Modiji’s deal was cheap, as claimed by Modiji’s ‘Defensive Minister’ Shri ArunJaitley – then why buy only 36, why not 126 aircrafts as stated in the UPA deal.

  1. Transfer of Technology

 Shri Jaitley conveniently omitted the crucial part of Transfer of Technology which the Modi Govt let go in their 36 aircraft deal. The moot point is that if the Transfer of Technology was forgone, then Rafale automatically L2 from L1 vendor. Eurofighter had already written to Shri ArunJaitley that they are ready to provide the aircrafts at a price which is 20% cheaper.

 Why didn’t the Modi Govt order fresh bids, if ToT was forgone?

  1. Benchmark Price

 Why did Modiji increase the ‘Benchmark Price’ from €5.2 Billion (39,422 Cr) to €8.2 Billion (62,166 Cr), despite the objection of Law Ministry and Defence Ministry?

 Are these the files hidden in the bedroom of Manohar Parrikar?

 

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