रफेल पर बोली कांग्रेस, बीजेपी ने देश नही बल्की जेब की सुरक्षा के लिए किया समझौता, जांच में सामने आएगा सच

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July 31, 2020

कांग्रेस ने आज एक बार फिर ऑपरेशन वेस्ट एंड का जिक्र करते हुए राफेल मुद्दे पर मोदी सरकार को घेरने की कोशिश की। पार्टी के प्रवक्ता जयवीर शेरगिल ने मोदी सरकार पर हमला करते हुए कहा, “जिस तरीक़े से वेस्ट एंड मामले मे कोर्ट के ज़रिए सत्य देश के सामने आया है वैसे ही जिस दिन राफ़ेल मामले की जांच होगी तो पूरा देश इसका भी सच जान जाएगा। जयवीर ने आगे कहा कि बीजेपी ने यह समझौता देश सुरक्षा के लिए नही, बल्कि जेब की सुरक्षा के लिए किया है। “

शेरगिल ने आगे कहा कि इस देश के रक्षा समझौतों पर सरकार को पारदर्शिता बरतते हुए कानून का पालन करना चाहिए था। ऑपरेशन ‘वेस्ट एंड’ ने भाजपा के भ्रष्टाचार का पर्दाफ़ाश कर दिया है। रक्षा समझौतों के लिए वह दिन एक काला दिवस था इस ऑपरेशन से दो बड़े खुलासे हुए थे।

एबीपी न्यूज के अनुसार कांग्रेस नेता ने भाजपा पर हमला बोलते हुए आगे कहा, “बीजेपी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष बंगारू लक्ष्मण अपने ही दफ्तर में रिश्वत लेते कैमरे पर पकड़े गए थे। रिश्वत ली गई थी HHTI के ठेके लिए, UK की कंपनी से वादा किया गया था कि बीजेपी सरकार से HHTI का ठेका आपको दिलवाया जाएगा। इसे ऑपरेशन ‘वेस्टएंड’ जजमेंट-1 नाम दिया गया। अब ऑपरेशन ‘वेस्टएंड’ जजमेंट-2 आया है। जहां जया जेटली और उनके साथियों को रक्षा मंत्री के घर पर बैठकर रिश्वत लेने और आप पैसा लाओ सरकार से डील हम करवाएंगे के चक्कर में सज़ा हुई जिससे यह साफ़ होता है कि रक्षा सौदों मे बीजेपी की क्या भूमिका रही है।”

देश को बर्बाद कर रहे हैं मोदी, जल्द ही टूटेगा भ्रम: राहुल गांधी

By

Rohit Gupta

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July 30, 2020

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राहुल गांधी लगातार केंद्र सरकार और प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी पर हमला बोल रहे हैं। कभी चीन के सीमा विवाद तो कभी बेरोजगारी, राहुल लगातार पीएम मोदी पर निशाना साध रहे हैं। राहुल ने गुरुवार को एक बार फिर ट्वीट कर सरकार पर हमला बोला।

राहुल ने ट्वीट कर कहा, ‘मोदी देश को बर्बाद कर रहे हैं। नोटबंदी, जीएसटी, कोरोना महामारी में दुर्व्यवस्था, अर्थव्यवस्था और रोजगार का सत्यानाश। उनकी पूंजीवादी मीडिया ने एक मायाजाल रचा है। ये भ्रम जल्द ही टूटेगा।’

इससे पहले, राहुल गांधी ने राफेल विमानों के भारत आने पर भारतीय वायुसेना को बधाई दी थी। साथ ही विमानों की खरीद को लेकर सरकार से सवाल पूछे थे। उन्होंने ट्वीट कर पूछा था, ‘राफेल विमान के लिए आईएएफ को बधाई। लेकिन क्या सरकार इन सवालों के जवाब देगी। 1)प्रत्येक विमान की कीमत 526 करोड़ की बजाए 1670 करोड़ क्यों दी गई? 2) 126 की बजाए सिर्फ 36 विमान ही क्यों खरीदे? 3) एचएएल की बजाए दिवालिया अनिल अंबानी को 30 हजार करोड़ का कांट्रैक्ट क्यों दिया गया?’

इससे पहले राहुल ने सोमवार को अपनी वीडियो सीरीज के अगले भाग के जरिए सरकार को घेरा और कहा कि वह चीन की घुसपैठ पर झूठ नहीं बोलने वाले हैं, चाहे उनका राजनीतिक जीवन ही क्यों न खत्म हो जाए। साथ ही उन्होंने कहा कि चीनी सैनिकों की भारतीय सीमा में घुसपैठ को नकारने और इस विषय पर झूठ बोलने वाले देशभक्त नहीं हैं।

उन्होंने एक वीडियो जारी कर कहा, ‘एक भारतीय होने के नाते मेरी पहली प्राथमिकता देश और इसकी जनता है। उन लोगों के बारे में आपका क्या ख्याल है जो कहते हैं कि प्रधानमंत्री से चीन पर आपके सवाल भारत को कमजोर कर रहे हैं ? यह एकदम साफ है कि चीनी हमारे इलाके में घुस गए हैं। यह बात मुझे परेशान करती है। इससे मेरा खून खौलने लगता है कि कैसे एक दूसरा देश हमारे इलाके में घुस आया?’

कांग्रेस नेता ने कहा कि अब आप एक राजनीतिज्ञ के तौर पर चाहते हैं कि मैं चुप रहूं और अपने लोगों से झूठ बोलूं तो ऐसा नहीं होने वाला है। मैंने उपग्रह की तस्वीरें देखी हैं, मैंने पूर्व सैन्यकर्मियों से बात की है। अगर आप चाहते हैं कि मैं झूठ बोलूं कि चीनी इस देश में नहीं घुसे हैं तो मैं झूठ नहीं बोलने वाला। स्पष्ट कर दूं कि मैं ऐसा नहीं करने वाला। चाहे मेरा पूरा भविष्य डूब जाए लेकिन मैं झूठ नहीं बोल सकता।

Supreme court gives 5 days for government to respond to Rafale review pleas

By

Sugat Srivastava

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April 30, 2019

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Rafale jet deal has become the Achilles heal for the BJP government. No respite for government in the coming future as the court refused it’s plea to respond in a month. Instead, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) gave them time till Saturday to respond.

The Bench, headed by CJI Gogoi, also directed the government to respond by affidavit to a separate application for initiating perjury proceedings against those in the government who had allegedly “suppressed” vital documents and circumstances of the Rafale jets’ purchase from the court.

The court, earlier upheld the jets’ deal on December 14 by saying that it had limited jurisdiction over defence deals. In another judgment on April 10, the court rejected the government protests to maintainability of the review petitions against the December 14 order.

The brief hearing on Tuesday on the review petitions began with Attorney General K.K. Venugopal informing the court that the government had circulated a letter to all the parties concerned for a deferment of the hearing.

Mr. Venugopal said a fresh response was required from the government as there were new documents annexed in the review petitions. “Give us some time… Your April 10 judgment allowed these documents. There was no formal notice issued to the Union of India,” he submitted.

“If your grievance is that no notice was issued, we will issue notice,” the CJI responded.

At this point, advocate Prashant Bhushan, one of the review petitioners, pointed out that the application filed by them, including former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, to initiate perjury proceedings against government officials who submitted “false information” in the Rafale case was also listed and the court should issue formal notice on that too. The court asked them to issue another petition for perjury.

The case of Rafale deal is quite stringent. The government had claimed that the review pleas were based on secret Rafale documents unauthorisedly removed from the Ministry of Defence and leaked to the media. Mr. Venugopal had argued that “stolen” documents came under the protection of the Official Secrets Act (OSA). They were not admissible in evidence in a court of law. Claiming privilege, the government wanted the court to ignore the documents, even if they were found to be germane to the Rafale case, and dismiss the review petitions at a preliminary stage.

Attorney General took 180 degree turn, now says documents not stolen

By

Sugat Srivastava

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March 8, 2019

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In a bizarre turn of events, Attorney General now claims that the petitioners used the photocopies. They didn’t steal the documents. Earlier, healleged the petitioners for stealing and later blamed the public servants.

His comments in the apex court on Wednesday that Rafale fighter jet deal documents were stolen caused a political row, with Congress president Rahul Gandhi targeting the government over stealing of such sensitive papers and seeking a criminal investigation.

“I am told that the opposition has alleged what was argued (in SC) was that files had been stolen from the Defence Ministry. This is wholly incorrect. The statement that files have been stolen is wholly incorrect,” he told PTI, in an apparent damage-control exercise.

Venugopal said the application filed by Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushant, seeking from the court a review of its verdict dismissing pleas for a probe into against the Rafale deal, had annexed three documents which were photocopies of the original.

Official sources said the AG’s use of word stolen was probably “stronger” and could have been avoided.

The government had also warned The Hindu newspapers with a case under Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on these documents.

Stolen or not, the point is – such documents do exist. That means, the deal is shady. Let’s see how much shady and below the belt it is by the verdict of the Apex Court.

Government blames public servants for stolen Rafale Documents

By

Sugat Srivastava

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March 7, 2019

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Rafale Documents are missing. This news itself is a shock. Progression of shocks led to the blaming of public servants for the steal. The opposition is not losing the golden opportunity to attack the government on ‘carelessness’. Government has also imposed Official Secrets Act on the newspaper The Hindu.

Attorney General KK Venugopal said papers regarding the pricing of the Rafales were stolen from ministry files and given to The Hindu newspaper for publishing. He also argued that a report by the newspaper could not be taken up as evidence against the government. Justice KM Joseph injected some sense into the debate and said that even stolen evidence could be looked into provided it was authentic and relevant.

KK Venugopal also said a review petition and an affidavit filed by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan contained extracts from the stolen documents, and these should be dismissed. He also demanded imposing the Official Secrets Act. But Prashant Bhushan said there was no infringement, explaining that the information on file notings was open under the Right To Information. Venugopal countered the point by reading out the RTI Act and said it exempted defence documents from disclosure.

Rafale deal has already been the political flash point. On one hand, the Congress has relentlessly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of crony capitalism and corruption, pointing — among other things — to the choice of Reliance Defence as an offset partner of the jetmaker, Dassault Aviation.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India felt the absence of Rafale fighters as tensions with Pakistan escalated last week.

Supreme court has already cleared the deal but a review petition has been filed by Prashant Bhushan and his associates. On this, Attorney General Venugopal told the court on Wednesday that judicial review of the Rafale case would affect future defence purchases.

Venugopal said the court shouldn’t get into the Rafale issue, as any observation by it would be used by the Opposition to destabilise the government.

The million dollar question is that how can the government lose such important documents? Was it their carelessness or they deliberately hiding it? Whatever be the reason, now the government has started blaming public servants for the leak. The ultimate point is that such documents do exist which can topple the ‘clean deal’ claim of the government. Let’s see how the story unfolds.

Modi finding cover for his debacles in blaming Congress

By

Sugat Srivastava

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February 8, 2019

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Recently, our Prime Minister gave his one of the last speeches of his tenure. It was a good speech, technically, but the content was the same old political jibes and slurs. Modi’s speech was filled with satires on Congress and the latest ‘United Opposition Alliance’. He even compared his 55 months governance with 55 years of Congress government.

Modi was replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the Parliament. He used his hour-long speech to cover points about the first time voters, middle class, traders, the poor, farmers, successes, initiatives, and above all, satires on Congress.

The Opposition wanted answers on key national issues like unemployment, farm crisis, and the Rafael fighter jet deal. The answers by Modi only involved mockery and digging out the buried cases in the past. He started with the changed definition of BC as ‘Before Congress’ and AD as ‘After Dynasty’. BC is the time where nothing happened and AD is the period where everything happened. Thus, comparing the Congress rule of more than half-century to his tenure of 5 years. The points which were put forward by him, like sanitation coverage, LPG connections, electrification, etc., are debatable. Lowering the standards and inflating the numbers did exaggerate the results but the ground reality hasn’t changed.

On misusing the Constitutional Institutions, Modi again compared his reign with that of Congress’. He even said that they manipulated institutions several times for their benefits. So, bending the Institutions has become a competition. What our Prime Minister should understand is that wrong is wrong and it should not depend on the frequency. It is like justifying the robbery in terms of money gained.

Modiji even called the leaders of the ‘United Opposition Alliance’ as the traitors as they had worked with Vajpayee and with him in the past. He even tagged them as ‘maha-milavat’ government. Thus, a government with no original or pure substance. He even pointed out the coalition government of UPA was ineffective. He later completed this point by saying that they are not going to be elected to the Parliament.

On Rafale jet deal, Modi said that Congress didn’t want the Air Force to become stronger and thus, they are opposing the government. He also said that Congress party is astonished as this is the first time when a defense deal is completed without any corruption. As if setting up a JPC means relinquishing the strength of the armed forces.

Modi’s speech was quite predictable. The key ingredients of every Modi-speech are satires on Congress, digging up their past, dwarfing the previous governments’ achievements, and thus, confusing from the main question. In this speech, the questions were unemployment, rural distress, Rafale Jet deal, and the failure of Make in India. In our PM’s answer, among these points, which points did he cover? He ducked 3 out of 4 points and claimed that other parties didn’t want Air Force to become stronger. Only turns and twists with no displacements, Modiji’s speech didn’t give the final outcome.

Rafale Jets Won’t Be Part Of Bengaluru Air Show

By

Sugat Srivastava

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October 1, 2018

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The Rafale fighter jets India ordered would not be ready to fly at the Bengaluru air show in February, an IAF official said on Sunday. French aerospace major Dassault Aviation is set to deliver 36 Rafales multi-role medium combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in fly-away condition from September 2019 onwards.

“Rafale for India will not be ready by February. We expect Dassault to fly some other Rafale at the Aero India show here on February 20-24, 2019.
Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal R.K. Singh Bhadauria

This will be the 12th edition of the 5-day biennial air show. The air show will be held at IAF’s Yelahanka base on the city’s northern outskirts.

The state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will play a major role in organising the air show, instead of the Defence Exhibition Organisation which has been hosting the event over years, he added.

The advanced fourth generation fighter Rafale will partly replace the ageing Russian-built MiG-21 jets the IAF is phasing out due to their obsolescence. The current government’s bid to buy Rafale has been termed as ‘shady’ by the opposition. Some even term it as the ‘father of all scams’. All because government is not keeping it transparent and giving unfair advantage to Reliance, instead of state-run HAL which is quite experienced for the task.

Rafale Deal: The shadiest deal ever

By

Sugat Srivastava

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August 10, 2018

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“This is the biggest scam of the world. We are demanding the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the Rafale deal,” Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha today.

The chaos caused by the opposition in the Parliament even adjourned the debate on Triple Talaq. The controversy is not new. In November 2016, the opposition accused the government of causing “insurmountable loss” of taxpayers’ money. They even termed ‘Make in India’ a failure. They bestowed another allegation which claimed that the Ambanis had been unfairly picked to be the French firm Dassault’s Indian partner.

Congress repeatedly attacked the government and demanded details of the deal done. They even boasted that UPA government, earlier, negotiated the aircraft at one-third of this price.

The Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Parliament earlier this week that the details of the deal with France for the Rafale fighter jets cannot be disclosed as per the inter-governmental agreement as it is “classified information”.

On August 8, Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie teamed up with activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan. In the statement, they assert that the Rafale fighter aircraft deal was the “biggest defense scam ever”, and accused the BJP-led Centre of “compromising national security”.

Shourie said the deal was a “scandal much bigger than Bofors” and needs an urgent forensic audit to fix accountability. He said the secrecy clause in the agreement with France only binds India from revealing the technical specifications and operational capabilities of the aircraft but does not restrain the government from disclosing the price.

Quoting a February 16, 2017 press release by French manufacturer Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence, and a financial press release statement of Dassault for 2016, Bhushan, Shourie, and Sinha said the total price of 36 aircraft is about ₹60,000 crore, which works out to be ₹1,660 crore per plane.

Today, protests over the NDA’s Rafale deal erupted outside the parliament. Protest and Congress leader, Sonia Gandhi, demands a probe on the last day of the Monsoon Session. Opposition leaders, including Raj Babbar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, CPI’s D Raja, AAP’s Sushil Gupta among others were seen holding placards that said, “We demand JPC”, “Modi Corruption Exposed”, Rafale Cover-Up Out In the Open” etc.

Our Opinion

Disclosing defense deals publicly is against the ethics and compromise the National security. But, if the deal is so fair, then why isn’t the government going for JPC? Continuously attacking the Achilles heel of the government is the proven tactic in political warfare. The opposition won’t roll out from this demand.

Ignoring the political angle, the deal is a failure of the government. Neither the demand for 126 aircraft of the aging fleet was satisfied nor the technology was exchanged to build more such aircraft in the future. Moreover, Reliance begging this project further maligned the image of the government further.

Tag: rafale

Our Opinion