Last night we reported how Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had sensationally refused to divulge details surrounding the controversial Rafale deal citing a ‘security agreement’ with France, signed in ‘2008.’
In her written reply to Congress MP Rajeev Gowda in the parliament, Sitharaman had said, “As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations in 2008.”
Congress leader and a former union minister in the UPA government, Manish Tewari, took to Twitter to remind her that India had signed three key agreements in 2008 with France and none included a ‘security agreement’ as claimed by Sitharaman.
He wrote, ” India & France signed 3 Agreements in 2008 1.Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement 2.Social Security (Not Security) Agreement 3.PSLV use Agreement. What is Security Agreement of 2008 ? When was it signed? Clauses & Terms”
Tewari may just be right because there’s absolutely no trace of any agreement between India and France restricting the former from divulging information on the Rafale deal. All Gowda had asked in his question to Sitharaman was; “Whether Dassault (the French aircraft manufacturer) was penalised for refusing to fulfil its contractual obligations under the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Request (MMRCA) deal; if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefore.”
What has given rise to suspicion is the outright refusal by Sitharaman to answer what appeared to be a seemingly innocuous question by Gowda. Sitharaman’s reluctance may have emanated from the cloud of suspicion on the Rafale deal, as exposed by Janta Ka Reporter in its two-part series.
In order to find a trace of evidence to support Sitharaman’s claims, we looked at the key documents archived by the governments of India and France on their respective public platforms and any media coverage on them.
A key document published by the government of France in 2013 titled France and Security In The Asia Pacific dwells on the country’s strategic ties with India while also referring to military partnerships between the two countries.
On its military partnership, the document makes absolutely no mention of any security arrangement barring India from disclosing the details on the Rafale deal as claimed by Sitharaman in the parliament. The document says, “France has developed a major strategic partnership with India based on common values and interests, organized around a top-level dialogue, a particularly close military cooperation (annual navy (Varuna), air (Garuda), and army (Shakti) drills), and an exceptional armaments cooperation.”
06/02/18 Janta Ka Reporter
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In her written reply to Congress MP Rajeev Gowda in the parliament, Sitharaman had said, “As per ‘Article-10’ of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between Government of India and Government of France on the purchase of Rafale aircraft, the protection of the classified information and material exchanged under IGA is governed by the provisions of the Security Agreement signed between the two nations in 2008.”
Congress leader and a former union minister in the UPA government, Manish Tewari, took to Twitter to remind her that India had signed three key agreements in 2008 with France and none included a ‘security agreement’ as claimed by Sitharaman.
He wrote, ” India & France signed 3 Agreements in 2008 1.Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement 2.Social Security (Not Security) Agreement 3.PSLV use Agreement. What is Security Agreement of 2008 ? When was it signed? Clauses & Terms”
Tewari may just be right because there’s absolutely no trace of any agreement between India and France restricting the former from divulging information on the Rafale deal. All Gowda had asked in his question to Sitharaman was; “Whether Dassault (the French aircraft manufacturer) was penalised for refusing to fulfil its contractual obligations under the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft Request (MMRCA) deal; if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefore.”
What has given rise to suspicion is the outright refusal by Sitharaman to answer what appeared to be a seemingly innocuous question by Gowda. Sitharaman’s reluctance may have emanated from the cloud of suspicion on the Rafale deal, as exposed by Janta Ka Reporter in its two-part series.
In order to find a trace of evidence to support Sitharaman’s claims, we looked at the key documents archived by the governments of India and France on their respective public platforms and any media coverage on them.
A key document published by the government of France in 2013 titled France and Security In The Asia Pacific dwells on the country’s strategic ties with India while also referring to military partnerships between the two countries.
On its military partnership, the document makes absolutely no mention of any security arrangement barring India from disclosing the details on the Rafale deal as claimed by Sitharaman in the parliament. The document says, “France has developed a major strategic partnership with India based on common values and interests, organized around a top-level dialogue, a particularly close military cooperation (annual navy (Varuna), air (Garuda), and army (Shakti) drills), and an exceptional armaments cooperation.”
06/02/18 Janta Ka Reporter
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