The Rafale Deal has been consistently heating up the Parliament. With the questions asked and allegations made, this brawl has turned into something which is haunting the Modi-led BJP govt.
Here’s the timeline of Rafale Deal:
| 2007: | Indian Air Force sends a proposal to buy Medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) to the UPA-led Centre.
Indian government issues Tenders for 126 MMRCA fighters. |
| Aug 28, 2007 | The bidders are – Russia’s MIG-35 Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen French Dassault Rafale American Lockheed Martin’s F-16 American Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet British Eurofighter Typhoon |
| Sept 4, 2008 | Mukesh Ambani led Reliance group incorporates a new company named Reliance Aerospace Technologies Ltd. (RATL).
Unconfirmed news that RATL and Dassault are in talks regarding a joint venture which will observe Indo-French deal in future. |
| May 2011 | Indian Air Force shortlists French Rafale and British Eurofighter jets. |
| Jan 2012 | Bids open.
Rafale comes up with the lowest bid. 126 jets are required, out of which 18 fighters are to be imported in a flyaway condition. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will manufacture the remaining 108 jets with assistance from Dassault. But there is no final agreement between India and France on the prices and deliverables. Hence, the process does not start. |
| Mar 13, 2014 | Continued negotiations.
The workshare agreement is signed between HAL and Dassault Aviation. But the deal is not finalized. Congress claims that it negotiated a deal with price of Rs 526.1 crore per jet. |
| Mar 28, 2015 | Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence Limited(RDL) is incorporated. |
| Apr 10, 2015 | On his Paris visit, Modi announces government’s decision to buy 36 Rafale fighters in flyaway condition. |
| June 2015 | Defence Ministry withdraws the previous 126 aircraft deal tender. |
| Jan 2016 | French President François Hollande visits India on Republic Day.
Memorandum of understanding on the purchase of Rafale jets is signed. |
| Sept 2016 | Final deal for 36 Rafale jets worth Euro 7.87 billion (approximately Rs 59000 crores) is signed.
Delivery of jets would start from September 2018. |
| Oct 3, 2016 | RDL and Dassault Aviation announce a joint venture.
Dassault will make compensation investments (offsets) in India worth 50% of the value of the purchase. |
| Feb 2017 | Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint-venture is formed. |
| Dec 12, 2017 | Congress alleges Central government for favoring Anil Ambani’s Reliance at the cost of HAL. |
| Sept 2018 | Former French president Hollande, in an interview with a French publication Mediapart, says that he had no choice in selecting the Indian offset partner and the name of Reliance was given by Indian side.
India’s Defense Ministry issues statement that neither of the two governments we’re involved in the commercial decision. Dassault Aviation issues statement claiming it was Dassault’s decision to choose Reliance. |
| Oct 2018 | Modi-led BJP is bombarded with allegations from the opposition.
Rahul Gandhi says, “French President is calling our PM a thief.” BJP responds by calling Rahul Gandhi a “leader without any popular support.” Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questions Rahul’s credentials to question the PM. Kejriwal takes a dig at both BJP and Congress saying, “They(BJP) have turned out to be more corrupt than them(congress). If they did 2G, the other has done Sahara-Birla diary scam, if they did the Commonwealth scam, the other has done the Lalit Modi scam. If they did Bofors scam, the other has matched them with this Rafale scam,” he said. Sitaram Yechury calls “Rafale a prime example of cronyism and corruption.” Prashant Bhushan files a petition in Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored probe into the matter. |
| Nov 2018 | SC orders Central Govt to give the details of the deal.
The details of the deal are submitted. On questioning about the details of prices by the petitioners, BJP refuses to divulge the details citing the “security clause” and “confidentiality of national security issues.” SC reserves its judgment on the petitions. |