Rafale: Can’t become pawns in corporate warfare, Sitharaman says to Oppn

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 19

Defence Minister  Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday accused opposition parties of “playing into” corporate hands. "The questioning of the deal should be guided only by this country's strategic and security interests, and to clear doubts on process of procurement and transparency," Sitharaman said.

"I want every strand of this debate to be explained, as much as it can be, without any of us playing into the hands of international corporate warfare. None of us should play party to any corporate warfare. We cannot become pawns in the hands of the corporate giants to constantly bully the government, to constantly throw misinformation at the public, to misinform the public," she said.

Sitharaman, who was speaking about ‘India's Strategic interest in the context of the Rafale deal’, organised by Foundation For Public Awareness and Policy—a think tank— she said the controversy over Rafale deal was now beyond reasonable questioning.

“They have knocked at every door, including Supreme Court, but still continue with the questions. The answers to their questions have also been given during a discussion in Parliament on the issue. But they’re deliberately not trying to understand, and continue to misread and misconstrue Supreme Court's verdict on these issues.”

She wondered whether the procurement of 36 fighter jets was being "sabotaged".

"There is a growing sense that efforts are still being made to scuttle the Rafale deal. This would be the greatest disservice to the country," she said, adding that ever since the Modi government came to power, there was a conscious effort to keep middlemen at bay from the corridors of the Defence Ministry.

“Rafale will act as force-multiplier to country's defence capability,” she added.

Referring to opposition members playing with paper aeroplanes in Parliament when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was speaking during a discussion on Rafale issue, Sitharaman wondered if the opposition seriously wanted to hear the answers.  

She said their “hardwiring to corruption” was making it hard for them to believe the “above board” deal.

“The country cannot wait anymore to upgrade its air defence preparedness, considering the disturbances at its borders, and the neighbouring countries scaling up their preparedness at a fast pace,” she said.