Rafale deal row: By skulking in shadows, Narendra Modi giving Rahul Gandhi leeway to hurt BJP

In the early stages of the Rafale deal controversy, many believed that the Narendra Modi government was leading a naïve Congress president Rahul Gandhi up the garden path in an attempt to make him look silly by committing himself to the stand that something stinks in the deal. This would have logically lead to the magic moment when the Modi team finally knocked him from his perch, egg dripping from his face, as it cleared the air with hard fact.

That, however, is not happening. By skulking in the shadows, the BJP is actually cementing the perception that Gandhi has them on the run. When an Opposition leader, even if it is Rahul, gallops on his hobby horse, the intemperate shouting by him cannot be answered in a similar fashion.

Here is a man accusing the government of skullduggery and not doing it with fact but with froth. That cannot be answered by telling us he once sat in the lap of the Bofors middleman Ottavio Quatrochhi. What sort of answer is that? By stooping to his level, the government is giving him a winning hand.

Seeing as how Rahul is pretty muddled in his questioning, it should have been easy for the government to silence him.

The first question Rahul should be asked is what is your question?

To the best of my knowledge in all the brouhaha, Rahul is making accusations but has no specific facts to back them.

He wants to know why 36 jets are being bought when the initial order was 126.

Never mind whose lap he was weaned in… answer him bluntly. This is the first batch and the rest will be assembled. Yes or no.

Then he wants to know why the planes haven’t landed yet. Explain to him about the manufacturing of the aircraft, the time lag for training pilots, the maintenance crew, creating support facilities at home bases and setting up a spare parts inventory. If that is part of the deal so be it. Say it.

Rahul wishes to know why the price rose from Rs 5.26 billion to Rs 16 billion per aircraft. Fine. Spit it in his face instead of dithering. There is no secret in discussing upgrades in avionics, armament options and other refinements. National security is not compromised by this information as it is freely available on the internet. Dassault will tell you happily. If there was a price hike per unit how much of it was set against offset deals and investments in assembling the rest of the fleet at home. Why again the secret seeing as how everyone is confused about the price.

Also, grasp the nettle. Stop evading the Reliance Defence factor. It creates needless suspicion. If Dassault is comfortable with this choice in the private sector and is prepared to hand over its aircraft specs to Reliance Defence why is it an issue? You do not risk the reputation of your aircraft on a whim.

As Alice would say, it is not only getting curiouser and curiouser, it is getting downright absurd.

While the prime minister has no call to respond to Rahul’s challenge to have a debate on the Rafale deal, by the same token he does have the responsibility to the people of India to speak out. While contempt might be a subtle form of revenge and other such hostile acts, the silence from the prime minister is merely emboldening Rahul to pile on the pressure willy nilly and getting shrill by the day.

It would be a neat two-step to dance past Rahul and host a televised press conference in which the prime minister can use his powers of oratory to tell us what on earth is going on and why the BJP’s limitation on the Rafale engagement is only to slur Gandhi and vice versa. I think it is a safe bet that everyone is a bit tired of that pathetic level of insult and there is a need for the Prime Minister to get past perceptions and stop feeding fodder to the Congress.

You are buying a fourth generation multi-role fighter jet, not a dinky toy. Grow up people and stop playing games.

That the waters have been muddied is now an accepted premise. When you do not allow your own defence minister to take the blows in the House and fall back on silver-tongued Arun Jaitley, and that too after your non-appearance in the House, you are practically loading the gun and pointing it to your head.

No one in the public is that stupid. Instead of the bad mouthing, if there is some clarity and sharing of information, it would silence the Opposition. Elements that come under national security, if any, can be titled and the details can be kept in abeyance. And if the rest of the disclosure makes sense, the public will make their own conclusions and appreciate the confidence reposed in them. But not to do this in any fashion is undemocratic and definitely generates suspicion. When you know Rahul is hurting you and pointing accusatory fingers why keep giving him more encouragement by ducking the issue?

Even giving a benefit of the doubt has a limit. You cannot keep getting away by calling him names. Forget him, just tell the country.

At times one gets the impression that the BJP frontline is actually wanting to injure itself and be highly masochistic.

Whoever is advising Modi at this crucial juncture is doing him a great disservice. The fact is that this subterfuge and the shabby nature of the verbal exchanges are giving Rahul a gravitas for free.

And he is having a field day with it.