(New Delhi, Jan 19,2019):In a scathing attack on the opposition parties for constantly raking up the Rafale deal, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday wondered whether they were becoming pawns in corporate giants rivalry. Speaking during a Lecture Series, organised by the Foundation for Public Awareness and Policy here, the Union Minister said, ''''? to be without any of us playing into international corporate warfare, none of us should play party to any corporate warfare.
We cannot become pawns in the hands of the corporate giants to constantly bully the government, constantly throw misinformation at the public?'''' Ms Sitharaman further said that it was also a ''disservice'' to the nation, if the public were misinformed or told half truth about the stories. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is struggling with the depleting squadrons and it needed at least 42 Squadrons to take on the two-front war. One squadron comprises of 16-20 fighter aircraft. It''s squadron strength is down to 31, now. ''''If their intention is to sabotage even this procurement (Rafale), to stop the purchase even now, that''s the icing on the cake as regards disservice to the nation.
Icing on the cake is a wrong expression, but just the cruel last hit towards serving this nation,'''' she said. On middlemenm, she said, ''''Between 2014 & today, in the Defence procurement, including the ones done by Manohar Parrikar and Arun Jaitley, we deliberately not had any middleman coming into the corridors of South Block.'''' Former Vice Chief of IAF Air Marshal SB Deo (Retd) termed the fighter jet as the game changer in the Asian continent and said, ''''If we don''t get it now, the capability of the IAF will erode quickly. ''''If you are not strong, you will be provoked.
If you will be provoked, we don''t have balance you will make mistake. It happened in 1962. If you don''t keep your air force strong, if you don''t keep your army strong, that will happen yet again,'''' said the former IAF officer, who had a know-how about the deal. After the Rafale was chosen as L1 bidder, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) had offered a 20 per cent discount in 2012, but the then UPA government had rightly rejected it after opening of bids, as violative of procedure.
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