First it was the United States that got annoyed and now it is Great Britain's turn to ask some tough questions about its India policy.
Ever since the French Rafale fighter was declared the lowest bidder in the multi-billion dollar contract to provide new generation fighter for the Indian Air Force, a debate is raging in the UK as to what has gone wrong with David Cameron's charm offensive in wooing India. His visit to India in 2010 was widely viewed as a highly successful. He made all the right noises in India about Pakistan and terrorism and there was a sense that the UK-India ties finally turned a new corner.
Cameron government has also decided to give India £1.4?billion in aid between now and 2015, amounting to almost 1 per cent of Britain's own £159 billion debts. But when it came to the much sought after the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft contract, France was the winner and the Eurofighter, produced by a consortium of four nations, including Britain's BAE systems, lost. Apparently, saying right things and giving aid doesn't get you any influence in New Delhi.
From the very beginning, this saga has been rather interesting. Last year in April, India rejected bids by Lockheed Martin and Boeing (along with Russian and Swedish bids) for the $10 billion-plus contract for 126 medium multi-role combat aircrafts, despite extensive lobbying by the US military-industrial complex, supported by President Barack Obama himself.
03/02/12 Rediff.com
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