The NDA government is using men and women in uniform to defend the Rafale deal, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally "culpable" in the scam, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan alleged Tuesday.
The trio, at a press conference here, stepped up their attack on the prime minister, alleging that he "compromised" national security by reducing the number of the jets to 36 from the original proposal of 126 aircraft.
Referring to Vice Chief of Indian Air Force Air Marshal S B Deo's recent comments on Rafale, they said after being "totally exposed", the government is now using the senior military brass to defend the deal.
The opposition led by the Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal, claiming that the government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,600 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government. The government has rejected the charges.
Noting that that senior Air Force officials had made statements as to how Rafale is a "beautiful aircraft", Shourie, Sinha and Bhushan said they agreed with his views but wondered why Modi had reduced the number of aircraft from 126 to just 36, "disregarding" IAF's strategic needs.
The prime minister has done away with the Make In India component of the deal, under which the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) would have manufactured this "beautiful aircraft" in this country, they said in a statement.
"The PM is personally culpable in the Rafale scam," they alleged.
Last week Air Marshal Deo called Rafale a "beautiful" aircraft and said those criticising the deal must understand the procurement norms. Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar has also countered allegations of any wrongdoing in the Rafale deal.
"They are making the Vice Chief of Air Force to lie. You (the government) asked him to say that IAF said buy 36 aircraft. This is a lie. The vice chief is lying. The Air Force never said before April 10, 2015, that buy 36 aircraft or India-specific add-ons. By making them lie the whole morale of the air force is being finished."