Dassault CEO has made it clear that the problem was not between HAL and Dassault, which implies that the government perhaps had the motive of favouring the private sector.
In conversation with Gautam Navlakha, D Raghunandan, defence expert, points out that it is “patently absurd” that in spite of depleting strength of Indian Air Force, the government decided to scrap negotiations for 126 aircraft, and instead decided to settle for “emergency procurement” of 36 aircraft. He also notes that the Dassault CEO has made it clear that the problem was not between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Dassault, which implies that the government perhaps had the motive of favouring the private sector, by kicking out HAL.