Rafale Story Of The Day: Was Parrikar’s Name And Reply Cropped Out On Purpose? 

Earlier today, a report in The Hindu, written by N Ram, Chairman of THG Publishing Private Limited, The Hindu Group's publishing company, claimed that the Defence Ministry had raised strong objections to “parallel negotiations” conducted by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for the Rafale deal.

The report, which has reignited the debate on the Rafale Deal, is based on a Defence Ministry note dated 24 November 2015 and signed by the then Deputy Defence Secretary (Air) in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), S K Sharma. A version of the note put out by The Hindu in its report says that the “parallel discussions” by the PMO have “weakened the negotiating position of MoD and Indian Negotiating Team”.

“We may advise PMO that any Officers who are not part of Indian Negotiating Team may refrain from having parallel parlays with the officers of French Government,” the note reads, suggesting that “in case the PMO is not confident about the outcome of negotiations being carried out by the MoD, a revised modality of negotiations to be led by PMO at appropriate level may be adopted in the case.”

The note also mentions a letter from General Stephen Reb, the head of the French Negotiating Team, in which he stated that “taking into consideration the outcome of discussions between Diplomatic Adviser to the French Defence Minister and Joint Secretary to PM, no Bank Guarantee is provisioned in the supply protocol and the letter of comfort provides sufficient assurances of the proper implementation of the supply protocol by the industrial suppliers.”

This, the note points, was “contrary to the position taken by the MoD and conveyed by Indian Negotiating Team that the commercial offer should be preferably backed by Sovereign/Government Guarantee or otherwise by Bank Guarantee.”

The note also carries a remark by the then Defence Secretary, G Mohan Kumar, who writes, “RM may pl. see (sic). It is desirable that such discussions be avoided by the PMO as it undermines our negotiating position seriously.”

Viewed in this light, it appears that the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi interefeared in the negotiations of the Rafale deal and undermined the position of the the team working on the deal on behalf of the MoD.

However, it now appears that the document put out by The Hindu in its report does not give the full picture of the discussion at the MoD. A version of the same document, assessed by ANI and posted on Twitter, shows that it also contains a handwritten note by the then Minister of Defence, now Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar.

“It appears PMO and French President office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Para 5 appears to be an over reaction,” Parrikar added at the end, alleviating fear of interference in the negotiations.

Although it is not known if The Hindu cropped the document to remove Parrikar’s comment or it accessed the document in that form, what is clear is that the efforts to make a scam out of the Rafale deal continue unabated.

Also Read: Rafale Debate In Lok Sabha: Everything Rahul Gandhi Got Wrong In His Speech