CPI(M) demands Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into Rafale deal in wake of French investigation order

The CPI(M) on Sunday demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the Rafale deal following the French Public Prosecution Services (PNF) ordering an investigation by a judge.

The party's Polit Bureau said the judicial investigation was formally opened into the Inter-Governmental Agreement on June 14 following a decision by the Financial Branch of the PNF.

The exposures of official papers concerning the deal by a French investigative website show that Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of the Rafale and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group entered into an agreement on March 26, 2015 i.e. fifteen days before PM Modi’s announcement of the new deal and exclusion of HAL, it said.

"This reconfirms the apprehensions raised by the CPI(M) that PM Modi’s turnaround from the earlier purchase agreement, is mired in deep corruption and money laundering," a statement issued after a meeting of the Polit Bureau said.

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It reiterated the demand raised in September 2018 for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the role of the Prime Minister and the government in this whole episode and establish the truth of the deal, it said.

The CPI(M) also demanded the withdrawal of the draconian Essential Defence Services Ordinance, 2021, which aims to prohibit the employees of the ordnance factories to organise legitimate protests against the outright sale of India’s national assets to facilitate profit-maximisation of corporate cronies.

On Covid-19 vaccination, the party said the second wave of the pandemic has plateaued according to pandemic administrators but there is no substantial decline in the number of infections. This is very alarming and concerning, it said.

"The only way to protect the lives of our people and contain the pandemic is through a massive free universal mass vaccination programme. The target of vaccinating all adults by the year-end requires close to 190 crore vaccination doses," it said.

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The Modi government that claimed on May 13 that between August-December 2021 India will have access to 216 crore vaccine doses has substantially lowered vaccine availability in an affidavit to the Supreme Court on June 26 to 135 crore doses. This is an alarming shortfall to meet the year-end target, it said.

The CPI(M) also criticised the government for the near-daily hikes in petroleum prices, which apart from crippling people’s livelihood’s directly has resulted in a surging inflationary spiral across the board.

This Modi government increased the excise duties on petrol by 258 per cent and diesel by 820 per cent. The Central Government is raking in revenues at the expense of ruining people’s lives who are already burdened with increased expenditures in combatting the pandemic, it said.

The CPI(M) demanded the scrapping of these excise duties on petroleum products and effective measures to control the prices of all essential commodities.