A lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Rahul has been lying successfully on Rafale deal: both on price & on Anil Ambani.
On Prices:
Though exact comparison is not possible, one can compare similar weaponised aircrafts from Rafale:
The India-France Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) was finalised at Rs 59,000 crore for 36 fully loaded fighters — that works out to Rs 1,640 crore for each weaponised flyaway Rafale jet with 13 India-specific enhancements.
There are two templates for comparing the prices of fully weaponised aircraft:
Qatar government negotiated in May 2015, at Rs 1,875 crore for each of the 24 Rafale jets — Rs 235 crore more per Rafale than the Indian government.
The price paid by the Egyptian government for 24 Rafales, in February 2015 or Rs 1,542 crore per Rafale jet.
Like the Qatari Air Force and IAF orders, the Egyptians got fully loaded Rafales but with fewer specific enhancements, hence the slightly lower cost of Rs 98 crore per jet compared to Rs 1,640 crore India is paying and Rs 1,875 crore Qatar is paying.
Why then does Rahul Gandhi allege that India overpaid for the 36 Rafales and bandy about the irrelevant figure of Rs 650 crore for a bare-bones Rafale? It can’t be ignorance.
Now Anil Ambani:
Rahul Gandhi knows, offset contracts worth around Rs 30,000 crore will be given to several dozen Indian contractors, big and small. Those in the running include Tata, Mahindra, L&T, Bharat Forge and a Dassault-Reliance joint venture. How much will Anil Ambani’s company get of the Rs 30,000 crore contracts? Probably, a fraction. By Dassault’s own admission, the Dassault-Reliance JV will receive Rs 850 crore in offset contract value to make spare parts for Dassault’s line of small Falcon business jets — not Rafales. Assuming a net profit margin of 10%, that works out to a profit of Rs 85 crore over several years to be shared between Dassault and Reliance.
Also Rahul claims that Anil’s company was just 10 days old when it got the offset contract from Dassault: That, of course, is untrue as Rahul knows — or should know. The company is in fact over 20 years old. In 2015, Reliance Defence acquired Gujarat Pipapav, a reputed defence equipment manufacturer established in 1997, which has been in the defence business for more than two decades.
But knowledge of the truth has never come in the way of anyone determined to conceal it.
Now the hidden agenda:
why is he hoarse in his vitriol speeches, could it be due to his brother in law connection?
The twist in the tale, of course, is a clutch of alleged arms dealers, Sanjay Bhandari, Deepak Talwar, Rajeev Saxena and Christian Michel, pitching for the Eurofighter — Rafale’s main rival.
Bhandari, who is reportedly close to Robert Vadra and Vadra’s aide Manoj Arora, has been absconding since 2016. He is charged under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). Vadra has meanwhile been interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on his alleged links with Bhandari. Michel is in Tihar Jail and under interrogation in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter case — significantly, Agusta Westland’s parent company has an equity stake in the firm that makes the Eurofighter. Talwar and Saxena were extradited from the UAE for their role in facilitating bribes allegedly paid for defence deals.
Tailpiece:
But knowledge of the truth has never come in the way of anyone determined to conceal it.
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