NEW DELHI: India’s main opposition Congress party on Saturday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale aircraft deal, saying it was the only way forward to find the truth about “corruption” in the purchase of the fighter jets.
The party said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come forward and order the investigation into the deal.
The demand came after French investigative website Mediapart reported that a French judge has been appointed to lead a “highly sensitive” judicial investigation into alleged “corruption and favoritism” in the 7.8-billion-euro (9.2-billion-U.S. dollar) sale to India in 2016 of 36 Dassault-built Rafale fighters.
“In view of the latest revelations, it becomes all the more scandalous,” said a statement issued by the Congress party. “The facts now clearly call for a thorough JPC probe in Rafale scam.”
Congress party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said since the matter deals with national security and identity, a fair and independent JPC probe is the only way out and not the Supreme Court.
“When the French government has accepted that there is corruption in the deal, why should a JPC probe not be held in the country where the corruption took place?” Surjewala said. “Will the Prime Minister, like the French, now answer to the nation and tell when he will submit his government to a JPC probe into the Rafale scam?”
Surjewala said a JPC probe will be able to call witnesses and will be able to have access to all government files which the Supreme Court or the Central Vigilance Commission could never see.
India in 2016 signed a deal with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a bid to bolster the country’s military image.
Congress and other opposition parties alleged the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has indulged in gross corruption while finalising the deal and demanded a JPC probe into the matter.
