Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched an onslaught against the Modi government, saying the strategic public sector company was overlooked in the offsets contracts with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation.
Interacting with workers of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Minsk Square in Bengaluru on Saturday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched an onslaught against the Modi government, saying the strategic public sector company was overlooked in the offsets contracts with French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. The BJP charged Rahul of misleading people and said it was actually the previous UPA government which had "betrayed" the HAL employees by pushing the company out of the Rafale deal. BJP MLA CT Ravi and spokesperson Ashwathanarayana took serious exceptions to politicise the employees of the defence PSU by the Congress president.
Gandhi described HAL as a "strategic asset" in aerospace, saying the country owed a debt to it, "Rafale is your right. You have the experience to build the plane," he said. "When Obama says only countries that can challenge the US are India and China that's because of your contribution. I want to listen to you and understand how to make you the strategic asset. I want to thank you all," he added.
The Congress, which has been accusing the government of benefiting the Reliance Defence Ltd of Anil Ambani from the deal, has also been demanding answers on why the state-run aerospace major HAL was not involved in the deal as finalised during the UPA. The party had been accusing PM Modi of "snatching jobs of people of Karnataka by taking away the contract from HAL". Eyewitnesses said it was mostly former employees who had gathered at the square.
The Congress on its Twitter handle also shared excerpts from the meeting as well as comments made by former and current HAL employees. A former employee Sirajuddin said he was not affiliated to any political party, but felt insulted when Rafale contract was taken away. "I have had the distinction of having seen three wars where we were very ill prepared..HAL is an organisation build by our seniors and superiors. A company of 78 years experience having manufactured all those aircraft was thrown out after 90% of the deal was done," he said. "You are killing us and taken away our right to food. What we want from you and other influential leaders is that please protect our honour. We are not begging. We are capable of manufacturing Rafale in India," he added. Mahadevan, former General Secretary of HAL employees union said he was not against management but against the government decision to undermine the PSU. He said these public sector organisations were temples of modern India which are now being ignored repeatedly.
Babu P Raghav former engineer of Indian Air Force said the HAL and the DRDO were not industries of profit, but organs of the same body. He said during the cold war period the HAL worked with Russian, Us and France technology. He said now nearly 50 per cent workforce in HAL is jobless. Shivalingaiah, secretary of HAL Employees' Association said there was a threat to the HAL as there are no new projects. In 2015, a helicopter pact was signed but nothing has happened. The government was supposed to fund the project but they preferred by back. He charged that about Rs 6,000 crore was taken away from the HAL.
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