3 and a half years have passed since the Modi Government was sworn in! Everyone, including the political class as well as the common populace is shocked and astonished as to why even a single allegation regarding corruption in the Modi Government hasn’t come to the fore. A major comparison is now being made between the 60 years of Indian legislature and these 3 and half years of Modi government.
It is matter of great achievement for the government that it has been receiving appreciations for its work from all over the world including the likes of Rating Agencies like Moody’s, Global bodies like IMF and World Bank and Corporate Bigshots like Satya Nadella and Indira Nuyi. We are not even counting in the love and support from the common public of India, because that will require a separate article.
But this is aggravating for a certain set of politicians, media and 5 star liberals in this nation. Hence they are creating issues out of thin air. Recently, congress vice president Rahul Gandhi launched a full-frontal attack on the Modi government at the centre regarding the Rafale deal with France. He argued that NDA government bought the fighter jets at a higher rate than the one ‘fixed’ by the UPA government.
He rained a flurry of tweets on Prime Minister Modi with the sole intention of defaming the government by questioning the Prime Minister over his corruption-free India stand and his own incorruptible image. He said, “I would ask Modiji three questions. First, is there a difference in the cost of planes in the first and the second contracts (signed with the French firm) and did India pay more or less money as per the second contract? And, has the industrialist (whose company has formed a joint venture with the French firm), who was given the contract, ever manufactured planes?”.
Along with Son Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched parallel attacks on Modi government accusing it of delaying the Winter session of the Parliament in order to hide from the of the Rafale ‘scam’.
But as has been the norm, there has never been a basis for the allegations hurled by Congress leader, this one was no exception either. This was explained by the statements of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who held a press conference and questioned the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s silence about the Rafale Deal and his sudden realisation of the deal after two and a half years of its finalization. He also slammed Rahul Gandhi for his lack of preparation, for not knowing the procedures and lacking any experience to understand such big ticket defense deals. He noted that it was just a motivated election campaign stance to defame the government. Also, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress Vice President for making baseless allegations.
These are well, just statements. Now let us come to facts:
And the fact is that Modi Government actually saved a whopping 12,600 crore Rupees and managed to finalize a far better deal than the UPA government.
Sources:
The most important point to be noted is that, there was no deal during the tenure of the UPA government. However, the bargaining was going on and the differences between the UPA and NDA are listed as follows:
- Under UPA, only 18 aircrafts were to be delivered in flyway condition. Whereas under NDA, 36 aircrafts will be delivered in flyway condition.
- Under UPA, the cost of each aircraft was about 100 million euros. But under NDA, the cost of each aircraft has come down to 90 million euros.
- The jets in the current NDA deal are equipped with meteor missiles which make them much powerful. Whereas, they were not present in the UPA deal.
The previous project had a fixed escalation figure of 3.9% whereas under the Modi government, the escalation figure has been limited to 3.5% which ensures the savings of up to 1 billion euros. According to the current deal, there have been bilateral agreements between the Indian and the French governments in order to help boost the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
On why, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) hadn’t been chosen
HAL’s estimated provisions for production were three times more than those of Dassault Aviation limited. Which again becomes a big positive for the country in diplomacy as well as defence strength.
Moreover, French officials rejected the Congress party’s claims of the government indulged in a scam. Alexandre Ziegler, the French Ambassador to India has said the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets is a “win-win partnership” for both countries.
Again, it has been a victory for truth which has smashed the lies being spread by the Congress party. Rahul Gandhi entered this case with a lot of enthusiasm, hopeful that he’ll succeed in boosting the sinking morales of his party, but he exited out of it broken, bent and proved a pathological liar again.
The statistics and survey reports suggest that the Modi government is boosting the economy of the country and is managing the revenues wisely, saving tax payer’s hard earned money from being squandered or landing in the middleman’s pocket.