Shekhar Gupta: Rafale has been turned into a scam of stupidity & arrogance

Rafale deal is no scam. It's just a glaring example of the BJP government's pusillanimous, unimaginative, over-cautious and unsuccessful handling of defence purchases

We now have sufficient evidence to say that there is a humongous scam in the Rafale deal. Except that this, ‘scam’ is spelt as ‘stupidity’.

If you find ‘stupidity’ too strong, you can choose a euphemism if you think it adequately describes this breathlessly arrogant idea that you could refuse to answer any questions on the pricing of a nearly $10 billion deal by claiming a secrecy clause between two democratic governments where all spending is subject to parliamentary and audit scrutiny. Or with explanations that get ludicrous by the day.

Today’s arms bazar carries almost no secrets about platforms,