Rahul Gandhi and some media group have been lying through their teeth on Rafale Deal since past one year. It cannot be without media support and dumb Indians such an elaborate hoax can be sustained for a year. Rahul’s entire gameplay is to label other parties as “corrupt” so that people feel there is no alternative.
In these series I am going to expose bit by bit the elaborate hoax build by Rahul and some media houses over the years.
Claim 1:
Rahul claims that Congress was getting a Rafale jet for as less as “Rs. 560” Crore while Modi is paying almost thrice the amount for the “same” jet.
Fact 1:
(Sources – Bids invited for $10.4bn IAF deal , Times of India, Aug 29, 2007)
So total deal = Rs 71000,00,00,000
Divide the deal by 126 = 71000,00,00,000 / 126 = Rs 563,49,20,634/-
Now if we take 2015 – one dollar was worth 66 rupees on average. Taking that the deal would have been around Rs 66000,00,000, which on division by 126 would give Rs 523, 80, 95, 238 /- (that is why he had mentioned 520 crore during “No Confidence” debate in Lok Sabha).
But the price had increased by more than $20 billion in 2012 itself. Rahul is cleverly hiding the fact, and no media is not questioning it.
When the MMRCA selection process was initiated by MoD in mid -2007, the overall project cost was pegged at Rs 42,000 crore or $10.4 billion for 126 fighters. Since then, with inflation also being factored in, revised estimates indicate the figure will touch $20 billion, if not exceed it.
(Another Source – dna exclusive: 100% price escalation on Rafale fighter aircraft to Rs. 1.75 lakh crore likely to dent IAF’s strike capability, DNA, Jan 26, 2014)
The price hike would mean that the deal would cost India nothing less than $28-30 billion (Rs1.75 lakh crore-Rs1.86 lakh crore),” said an Indian Air Force (IAF) official, who is privy to discussions of the cost negotiation committee.
So as you can see the cost of each jet in Congress deal was in between 1300-1400 crore Rupees per jet!
Fact 2:
Flyaway cost is one measure of the cost of an aircraft. It values the aircraft at its “marginal cost”, including only the cost of production and production tools essential for building a single unit. It excludes sunk costs such as research and development, supplementary costs such as support equipment, and future costs such as spares and maintenance. (Source – Wikipedia: Flyaway Cost). Now one cannot get a jet at a cost below “flying cost”, which is bare minimum.
On Nov 21, 2013 France Senate declared cost of one Rafale C (the cheapest of all versions of Rafale) as 68.8 million euros. On Nov 21, 2013 cost of one euro was 84.70 Rs. It means the “Flyaway cost” of a Rafale C jet in Indian rupees was Rs 582,73,60,000 , which means around Rs. 583 crores excluding taxes.
- 150 Rs Crore of missiles each jet
- 5 year maintenance and spare parts obligation
- Logistic support at 2 IAF bases
- 50% offset investment
- Training of IAF Pilots and maintenance crew.
- 13 customisations required by IAF.
- Full Technology Transfer
Obviously Rahul Gandhi is lying through his teeth on the figure of Rs 560 crore. And media is also helping propagating his bundle of lies to the people.
Next Part – The biggest scam – How did Congress arrived at figure of 126 jets requirement.
(Spoiler Alert: Though IAF require jets to arrests the falling strength of its squadron, it did not specifically mentioned 126)
