Bharat Karnad: It’s fair to compare. The United Progressive Alliance government had in mind the total transfer of technology. The Congress in its time had negotiated a price that was some $2 billion more than what we are paying for 36 aircraft, and that deal was for 126 Rafale aircraft. True, it was sometime back in 2010, but even if you bring in the escalated costs, I can’t image the escalation would have gone so much for so few aircraft and without any transfer of technology. The technology was the basic reason why Rafale has been touted as a very good buy by the Indian Air Force and its transfer was what the government then said was its selling point. Now you have a 36 aircraft compliment which really amounts to nothing in operational terms.<doc-sep>Sukshma Ramakrishnan By Online Desk Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his recent Lok Sabha speech during the debate on the No-Confidence Motion against the Modi government, attacked Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the umpteenth time over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. In his latest jibe, Rahul accused Sitharaman of “lying” to the nation over the Rafale deal’s ‘secrecy’, while the Defence Minister has outrightly denied the claim. Since the Rafale deal was signed in 2016, Congress and BJP have been at loggerheads. Here’s a comprehensive look at the twists and turns in what the two parties have said on the issue over the last three years. September 23, 2016 An Inter-Governmental Agreement was signed between the governments of India and France for supply of 36 Rafale aircrafts, initial consignment of weapons, long-term maintenance support through performance-based logistics, simulators with annual maintenance and associated equipment. Media reports stated that India had agreed to pay approximately 7.8 billion euros (Rs 58,000 crore) for the jets. The delivery of the jets was scheduled to begin from September 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande had agreed to scale back an original plan to buy 126 Rafale planes to just 36 in fly-away condition to meet the Indian Air Force's urgent needs as it tries to modernise and face an assertive China and long-time foe Pakistan. February 5, 2017 In reply to an RTI query , details regarding supply of 36 Rafale aircraft cannot be disclosed as they are confidential in nature, the Air Force said. The information sought is confidential in nature and public revelation of the same may lead to its subsequent availability to our adversaries, the reply said. November 14, 2017 The Congress slammed the Modi government for compromising national security and alleged that a huge scam was brewing in the procurement of Rafale fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The Congress said that the Modi government signed the Rafale deal on September 23, 2016, for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from Dassault for approximately Rs 58,000 crore and on October 3, Reliance Defence Limited, owned by Anil Ambani, tied up with the French company for a Joint venture for defence production in India. The Congress cited a Reliance document to point out that off-sets in the deal, which are half the cost of 36 aircraft, work out to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore. “That means the deal is worth Rs 60,000 crore,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, adding the government did not part with any information related to the deal despite several attempts by his party. Non-transparency in the deal also denied the transfer of technology to the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Congress further said. November 15, 2017 French diplomatic sources asserted that the Rafale fighter aircraft deal was in India's interest, a day after the Congress alleged that the BJP government was buying 36 aircraft from the French firm at a highly inflated price. The sources said the military jet was selected for its "outstanding performance" and "competitive price", while refusing to directly counter the Congress' allegation, terming it a "domestic political issue". November 16, 2017 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted , “Self "Reliance" is obviously a critical aspect of "Make in India. Can you explain "Reliance" on someone with nil experience in aerospace for Rafale deal?” Meanwhile, the IAF Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said that there was "no overpricing" in the Rafale purchase as the government had "negotiated a very good" deal for the French fighter aircraft. November 17, 2017 Responding to Congress, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that allegations relating to the procurement deal for 36 Rafale fighter jet were "shameful" and that such bickering was a "disservice" to the armed forces. November 18, 2017 Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi hit back at Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Rafale deal, claiming it was "shameful" that her boss was "silencing" her. "Dear RM, what's shameful is your boss silencing you. Please tell us: 1. Final price of each Rafale jet? 2. Did PM take CCS permission before announcing purchase in Paris? 3. Why PM bypassed experienced HAL and gave the deal to AA rated businessman with no defence experience?" Rahul tweeted. Reacting to him, Sitharaman slammed the previous UPA government for not taking a decision on the Rafale fighter jet deal for about 10 years and said she could not spell out in detail what happened due to the delay as it involved the nation's security. The minister said that the procurement order was placed "properly" and "by not slipping away" from any procedures. She further said that the Cabinet Committee on Security approved the deal and all formalities were complied with. November 25, 2017 Rahul Gandhi, at a poll rally in Gujarat said , "I would ask Modiji three questions (on the Rafale deal). First, is there a difference in the cost of planes in the first and the second contract (signed with a 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?" Further, he said, “And a more important question, did you follow the due government procedure? Why the (then) defence minister (Manohar Parrikar) was seen catching fish in Goa? And, was an approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security taken (for the mega deal)? Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back at Rahul , saying unlike during Congress regimes when middlemen ruled the roost, there was no “Quattrocchi" in the contract for the Rafale fighter jet. Jaitley was referring to Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian businessman believed to be involved in the Bofors scam which came to light when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. December 1, 2017 Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari asked the government to make public the details of the re-negotiated deal for the public to draw a comparison on whether the deal negotiated now is better that the one done during the UPA rule.<doc-sep>Document prepared by the ministry of defence and the Indian Air Force shows NDA govt saved Rs 59 crore per Rafale aircraft (Photo of Rafale performing during an airshow: Reuters) Rafale planes bought by the Modi government are Rs 59 crore cheaper than what the UPA government paid for them. A document prepared by the ministry of defence and the Indian Air Force this year shows that the per unit price of Modi regime's Rafales, after taking into account the cost of weapons, maintenance, simulators, repair support and technical assistance is Rs 1,646 crore while the ones negotiated for by the UPA would have come to Rs 1,705 crore. The NDA government paid Rs 59,000 crore for 36 planes while the UPA had paid Rs 1.69 lakh crore. The NDA government thus saved Rs 59 crore per aircraft. The aircrafts bought by NDA also has missiles such as the METEOR and the SCALP which were not included in the aircrafts bought by the UPA. The total cost of 36 Rafales is Rs 59,262 crore whereas the 126 planes during the UPA time would have cost Rs 1,72,185 crores as per the document. Despite spending Rs 9,855 crore more on the India Specific Enhancements in the planes in the deal done by the Modi government, the cost of the planes is coming to Rs 59 crore less than the UPA price for each aircraft. The development came on a day the Congress gave notices for bringing a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha for misleading the House on the Rafale deal. In the notices, the party said Modi and Sitharaman's contention in Lok Sabha on Friday that a 2008 agreement between India and France prevented the government from revealing the price details of the deal was not correct. The notices were given to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan by leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Veerappa Moily, K V Thomas, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajeev Satav over the statements made by Modi and Sitharaman during the debate on the no-confidence motion. READ | BJP vs Congress over Rafale fighter jets: Who worked a better deal? Explained READ | Despite France's rebuttal, Rahul isn't letting the Rafale debate go WATCH | Explosive Rafale deal newsbreak<doc-sep>A French Dassault Rafale fighter performs during the Aero India 2013 at the Yelahanka Air Force station in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: BCCL New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi claimed during Friday’s no-confidence motion debate that the Rafale jet deal has come as a huge loss to the Indian exchequer. But the Congress president may not have taken into consideration that 32 second-hand Jaguars are also being gifted to India by France. On Friday, Gandhi raised several questions related to the Rafale deal and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to answer why India was paying a “much higher price” for the aircraft than had been bargained with France during the UPA regime. But the 32 Jaguars that are coming India's way will provide much-needed spare parts to the Indian airforce. That’s not all. France is also going to provide India with two Mirage-2000 fighters, the planes that more than proved their capability during the Kargil war. It is unlikely that the Congress president during his impassioned speech in Parliament had considered all these aspects of the deal that give a clear boost to India’s defence preparedness. The Rafale deal took an interesting turn in 2015, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India will buy 36 Rafale fighter jets, which are made by France, off the shelf from a French aircraft builder. Rafale had been chosen in 2012 over other worthy rivals from Russia and the US. Initially, the plan was for India to buy 18 aircraft from the French firm Dassault Aviation in an off-the-shelf deal, and 108 other planes were to be assembled by the public sector body Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in India. But later the Indian government said that the twin-engined aircraft were expensive. Finally, after a lot of back and forth between India and France, the Modi government agreed to purchase 36 ready-to-fly Rafale jets. Then in September 2016 India and France signed an agreement, according to which India is to pay Rs 58,000 crore for 36 off-the-shelf twin-engine Rafale jets Approximately 15 per cent of this is to be paid in advance. India will also receive spare parts and the Meteor missile among other weapons as part of the deal along with the Jaguars and Mirages.<doc-sep>
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech in Parliament on Friday has once again shone the spotlight on the controversial Rafale deal, which saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the back foot. The Congress chief said defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman refused to disclose the price of the fighter jets, citing threat to national security. However, Dassault Aviation, in its annual report of 2016 and 2017, says they sold 36 Rafale aircraft for $7.5 billion (Rs 1,670 crore) per aircraft. The same was sold to Egypt and Qatar 11 months ago at Rs 1,319 crore per aircraft, thus highlighting a clear-cut loss of Rs 12,632 crore to the state exchequer, he said. News18 answers some key questions about the deal. What is Rafale? Rafale is a twin-engine, multirole fighter aircraft produced by French defence manufacturer Dassault. In 2012, the Indian Air Force (IAF) said the Rafale was its preferred aircraft. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to France in 2015, India requested ‘rapid delivery’ of 36 aircraft in flyaway condition. The first squadrons of the Rafale are set to join the IAF fleet by 2019. While the aircraft will bring the much-needed respite for the IAF, the deal had raised several questions. The Congress has alleged that the government struck the deal by overpaying for the aircraft. India bought the 36 aircraft at a price of €7.1 billion. What is the ‘secrecy clause’ that Rahul Gandhi referred to? In his speech during the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that Sitharaman had “lied” to Parliament at the “behest of the Prime Minister”. He said he had checked with French President Emanuel Macron, who denied that there was a secret pact under which India was asked not to reveal the price of the aircraft. In February this year, Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP MV Rajeev Gowda, in a written question to the ministry of defence, asked Sitharaman “whether Dassault (the French arms manufacturer of the Rafale jet) was penalised for refusing to fulfil its contractual obligations under the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) Request for Proposal; if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons thereof”. To this, the defence minister replied, “There was no contract with Dassault for medium multi-role combat aircraft.” However, it was Sitharaman’s reply to the third part of the MP’s question that raised eyebrows. Gowda asked the minister the “cost per aircraft under the Inter-Governmental Agreement for 36 Rafale aircrafts”. To this, she said, “As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations in 2007”. After several twists and turns, the Indian Air Force is reportedly set to get its share of the aircraft. Why has India opted for Rafale? Rafale was not India’s only choice. Several international aviation manufacturers expressed interest upon knowing the Indian government’s mammoth plan to revamp its air force fleet by introducing MMRCAs. Six renowned aircraft manufacturers competed to bag the contract of 126 fighter jets, which was touted to be the largest-ever defence procurement deal of India. The initial bidders were Lockheed Martin’s F-16s, Boeing’s F/A-18s, Eurofighter Typhoon, Russia’s MiG-35, Sweden’s Saab’s Gripen and Rafale. All aircraft were tested by the IAF and after careful analysis on the bids, two of them — Eurofighter and Rafale — were shortlisted. Dassault bagged the contract to provide 126 fighter jets as it was the lowest bidder and the aircraft were said to be easy to maintain. When did the actual procurement process begin? The IAF sought additional fighter jets in 2001. The current IAF fleet largely consists of heavy and light-weight combat aircraft. So the defence ministry considered bringing in intermediate medium-weight fighter jets. Though the idea has been around since 2001, the actual process began in 2007. The Defence Acquisition Council, headed by then defence minister AK Antony, approved the Request For Proposal to buy 126 aircraft in August 2007. This kick-started the bidding process. How many Rafale aircraft are we buying and what’s the cost involved? The deal was initially estimated to be worth $10.2 billion (Rs 54,000 crore). The plan included acquiring 126 aircraft, 18 of them in fly-away condition and the rest to be made in India at the Hindustan Aeronautics facility under transfer of technology.