The anti-national newspaper! – By P Chidambaram
The Rafale controversy will not go away! If it had been pushed to the background because of the Pulwama terrorist attack and the retaliatory strike by the Indian Air Force, Prime Minister Modi brought it back centre stage by his provocative remark, ‘If we had the Rafale aircraft….’
To his misfortune, within two days of his remark, The Hindu published another investigative article on the Rafale deal. The article punctured the conclusion of the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) that the NDA deal was cheaper than the UPA deal by 2.86 per cent. (The government’s claim that the price it had negotiated was 9-20 per cent cheaper had been rejected in the CAG’s report.) Which deal was cheaper?
The issue is quite simple. Under the UPA deal, Dassault was required to give a bank guarantee and a performance guarantee. Under the NDA deal, that requirement was waived. While providing a guarantee the bank will charge the customer, in this case Dassault. That is the ‘cost’ of the guarantee – something that every businessman is familiar with. In the Rafale deal, since a sum of approximately Rs 60,000 crore was involved, the guarantee charges would have been stiff.…
SEE ALSO:
- Devil in the details – By D. Raghunandan (Mar 15, 2019, Frontline)
https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article26372853.ece - What Rafale Secrets is Modi Hiding by Threatening Journalists? – By Arfa Khanum Sherwani (Mar 7, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/video/watch-what-rafale-secrets-is-modi-hiding-by-threatening-journalists - ‘Another nail in the Rafale coffin’ – By V. Venkatesan & Divya Trivedi (Mar 15, 2019, Frontline)
https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article26373563.ece
