Pickling The Bandit

The rising pitch of charges over the Rafale deal has shades of Bofors.

- Pranay Sharma

Public perception plays a key role in determining a leader’s longevity in politics. However, unforeseen events can scuttle well-laid-out plans, cutting short political careers and consigning leaders to the margins. If the fickle pattern of the Indian political landscape is anything to go by, politicians and observers will do well to keep a weather-eye on the tussle between the ruling party and the challenger to the prime minister’s chair over the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.

The moot question: Can the Rafale deal be as potent a scandal for the Modi government as Bofors had been for Rajiv Gandhi in 1987? His son Rahul, who was barely 17 then and now the Congress president, is determined.

“The fun has just begun,” he says, claim­ing to prove that Modi is not a “chowki­ dar” (security guard), but a “chor” (thief ). Defence minister Nirmala Seetharaman is alive to the challenge. “We know there is a perception battle. We will fight it,” she says.

Since the Bofors scandal, all major defence contracts have come under scrutiny by political opponents of the government and rival arms suppliers.

With key states—Madhya Pradesh, Raj­asthan and Chhattisgarh—going for asse­mbly polls later this year and parties girding their loins for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is determined to generate enough heat over the purchase of the 36 fighter aircraft from France to keep the BJP­led Narendra Modi govern­ment on the backfoot.

For its part, the BJP dismissed Rahul’s criticism by terming the whole thing as low tactics—a desperate Congress, having failed to form an opposition coalition, looking for partners and allies outside the country. The BJP’s reference was to a former Pakistani minister’s remarks that if Rahul played the Rafale controversy properly, he can be the next premier.