Going ahead with its tirade to put the ruling NDA under pressure, the main Opposition party Congress charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bypassing the immensely important Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) before revising the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.
Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Gulam Nabi Azad while addressing a press conference on Friday also hurled series of questions at the Modi Government over the deal and termed it the largest scam of the world.
“We during the UPA had a deal with Dassault for 126 fighter jets under which one plane was costing Rs 526 crore. After we demitted the office the Prime Minister goes to France on April 10, 2015 and without having on agenda announces that 36 jets will be coming at Rs 1670 crore each. We ask from the Prime Minister why the prices got inflated and also that whether he overruled the decision of the CCS without taking the CCS into confidence which is mandatory if there is any deviation from the decision taken earlier? Whether he forged the signatures of the CCS members by signing in back date and if it has been done then does the PM not attract a criminal case,” asked Azad.
The senior Congress leader also went on questioning the decision to drop transfer of technology clause, replacing HAL with Reliance Defense and compromising with the security of the nation by bringing down number of fighter jets required by the Indian Air Force.
“The Prime Minister often talks about transfer of technology for everything starting from tea making to pakkoda. But he is silent why the technology transfer clause which was to take place between the French company and Government’s HAL was dropped which would have generated lots of jobs in the country. Besides, the price surge put additional burden of over Rs 41000 crore on the country at the cost of taxpayers’ money. It is baffling to see the PM’s silence in the House on Rafael which is insult to the democratic system like ours,” added the leader.