The Rafale deal has created a stir across the parliament and the political circles. Rahul Gandhi has questioned the incumbency several times about the same. He has also fabricated stories and levied false allegations on the Modi government.
The unavailability of actual facts has provoked the Congress to frame up more stories. To end the ruckus, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament the real story behind Rafale. 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 signed in 2008.”
Recently, Union minister Arjun Lal Meghwal too stepped into the picture. In a bid to clear the air about Rafale, he said in a press conference held in Jaipur on Monday, while addressing Congress president Rahul Gandhi that “his predecessor Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had set this parliamentary practice of not disclosing certain information in the public domain due to national security, especially about spare parts of defence equipment.”
“Nehru had told then that disclosing such vital information in public domain will give enemy a clear idea about our defence establishments. I am afraid that Gandhi has forgotten the legacy of his predecessors while repeatedly asking defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman the price of the Rafale,” Meghwal added.
He also di the bygones and reflected an instance from the past. He said that former defence minister A K Antony had refused to share the price of defence purchases in the Parliament, so to save any harm national security.
Meghwal also questioned if Congress had disclosed the price of jets in their tenure. “I ask Rahul Gandhi that they had disclosed the price of jets of a deal they entered in UPA-I. They had never disclosed the price of revised deal they had during UPA-II. I can tell that our deal price is lower than what UPA-II quoted,” he said.
It will change the course of the issue. The manufacturer had asked the HAL that some parts/equipment have to be deliver in 2.5 years. The HAL told them of not possible to deliver before 4 years,” shared Meghwal.
