The Congress and in fact, the entire leftist-liberal cabal has been trying to paint the Rafale deal in a bad light for quite some time. The entire opposition has been trying to claim that the major defence deal is a major scam even without an iota of evidence suggesting so. It seems that the opposition is under immense pressure given the popularity of the present government and is therefore trying to make a mountain out of what is not even a molehill.
The opposition had a field day yesterday after an article surfaced in a French journal which had a statement from the former French president, Hollande purportedly stating that the Indian government had proposed Reliance’s name and Dassault had no role to play in choosing the company given to it. Rahul Gandhi and his sycophants went on to claim that Hollande’s statement suggests foul play in the entire deal and the situation required prime minister Modi to intervene. The opposition continued its rhetorical and politically motivated demand of a joint parliamentary committee to be set up in order to examine the entire deal. It seemed that the opposition got the opportunity that it wanted in order to corner the government. But their happiness proved to be short lived even as Hollande cleared the air around the Rafale deal.
The former French president has reportedly issued a clear denial over foul play in Rafale deal and whatever he was purportedly said to have been stating. He has made it clear in unambiguous terms that he was ‘unaware’ on India putting pressure for taking Reliance on board for the deal. This is more than sufficient to make it clear that allegations against the Modi government are false, frivolous and a mere figment of imagination. This denial by the French president will have the worst impact on the Congress and other opposition parties in India who must have been left disappointed after a sharp turn of events.
Replying to French news agency AFP about whether the Indian government had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande stated that he was unaware and “only Dassault can comment on this.” This further corroborates a prior statement made by Dassault Aviation that it chose Reliance group as a partner out of its own choice. This goes on to show that the opposition in India had been misquoting Hollande all this while. And the fact that he has now admitted of not having any knowledge about involvement of the Indian government in this deal, there is no logic in using him as a pretext for attacking the Modi government.
The opposition and especially the Congress must apologise for crossing its limits on the basis of a claim that never even existed and has been denied by Hollande himself. In fact, Rahul Gandhi must personally apologise for his chor (thief) barb at prime minister Modi and for wrongly claiming that the previous French president had called him a ‘thief’. This should also mean a legitimate and conclusive end to the concocted debate around the Rafale deal. Both the Ministry of Defence from India’s side and Dassault Aviation along with the French government have made it clear that this was a private to private negotiation and there is no merit in the allegation of foulplay in the entire deal.