Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France coincides with India buying 26 Rafale marine fighters, as well as a report by a French news portal, Mediapart, which says that the 36 Rafale jet deal in 2016 was still under investigation for “corruption”, “influence peddling” and “favouritism”, and that the Paris judicial authority had now sought India’s assistance.
Recall that several Opposition parties, led by Congress, and eminent citizens like Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Prashant Bhushan, had questioned the “irregularities” in the Rafale deal, sought a JPC probe, and had also approached the Supreme Court. The issue became a political controversy, however, the apex court gave a clean chit to the Centre in 2018.
Congress, citing the French portal’s report, has once again questioned the Modi government, especially the tax reduction that Anil Ambani’s firm got from France in 2015, and whether it had any link with the deal. Ambani had visited France with Modi when the PM scrapped an earlier deal to co-produce 126 Rafale jets with public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.