It seemed that Minister for Defence Manohar Parrikar would reveal explosive information about the involvement of top Congress leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi, in the Agusta-Westland VVIP helicopter bribe-twined deal. All that Parrikar said was there was an “invisible hand” behind the protracted investigation on the part of the UPA government. He did not name names. The newly nominated member, Dr Subramaniam Swamy said that all those mentioned in middle-man Michel Christian letter, should be probed. Former defence minister and senior Congress leader AK Antony agreed bribes were paid, and there should be a thorough probe. The much-awaited clash between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the principal opposition party, the Congress, turned out to be a damp squib. It seems as though that neither the BJP nor the Congress had enough facts in hand, for each to convincingly rebut the other. They were literally skirting round the issue, lunging at each other just to score political brownie points. 

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The only consolation is that the Rajya Sabha functioned, and the arch-rivals, the BJP and the Congress, sat down and heard each other out. But it was a waste of time. A case of corruption, which is what the helicopter deal seems to be in the wake of the Italian court convicting the top honchos of Finnmechanica and AgustaWestland for giving bribes to Indians, has to be dealt with in a court of law and not debated in Parliament. It was clear that an irascible BJP, frustrated by a recalcitrant Congress in pushing the legislative business, wanted to embarrass and corner the opposition party by talking about the bribes supposedly paid to Indians, among whom could be some of the top Congress leaders. The strategy would have worked if the BJP had names which would have shamed the Congress. Either, it did not have the names, or it did not want to come out with them.

What the Rajya Sabha should have debated, taking the AgustaWestland helicopter deal as an example, is the issue of laying down clear norms for defence procurement. And more importantly, what are the requirements of the armed forces, and whether timely purchases are being made to keep the forces battle-ready. It can be argued that the VVIP helicopters are not for military purposes, and therefore need not have passed through the norms set for defence procurement. The issue is not as tangled as the bureaucracy or the quibblers might want to make it out to be. The VVIP helicopters were to be operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF), and it was to facilitate the top government representatives, including the President, the Prime Minister and the defence minister to fly to inaccessible areas. That is why the involvement of former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP Tyagi, whom the Enforcement Directorate is questioning. So, there are larger issues involved in defence procurement which could have been fruitfully debated in the Upper House. Unfortunately, the opportunity was passed up and it boiled down to allegations and accusations, counter-allegations and counter-accusations. While points and counter-points are par for the course in the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate, exchange of mere allegations does no credit to the members of parliament. Also, there are far more burning questions facing the country like the drought and the plight of distressed farmers, the state of the economy, which should have been of greater concern to the representatives of the people. Now that the non-debate has happened, it is time for the BJP, Congress and all the other parties to turn their attention to legislative business.