On multiple occasions, the Modi government has thrashed Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) while defending its own position in the Rafale Deal. On Friday, January 4 Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the offset contract was handed over to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as HAL didn’t scale up its operations.
In a tweet, a Twitter user noted that the ‘mindless thrashing’ of HAL and its ‘phenomenal skills and capabilities’ was the worst collateral damage of the Rafale scam saga:
One the worst collateral damage of the Rafale deal is the mindless trashing of HAL & its phenomenal skills & capabilities by those in authority who a little idea of what they are talking about.
— SonaliRanade (@sonaliranade) January 4, 2019
A former HAL employee replied to the tweet in agreement:
As en engineer who spent his best years in HAL, I coulden’t agree with you more! https://t.co/jhPWA7TzSx
— Natarajan Balan (@NatarajanBalan) January 4, 2019
Earlier, defence minister Sitharaman had commented that HAL did not have the ’required capabilities’ to produce the Rafale fighter jets, a remark that had invited condemnation. Soon after, former head of HAL, T Suvarna Raju, had refuted the minister’s claim saying, “When HAL can build a 25-tonne Sukhoi-30, a fourth-generation fighter jet that forms the mainstay of the air force, from raw material stage, then what are we talking about? We could have definitely done it (licence produced the Rafale jets),” Hindustan Times had reported.
Also Read: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited vs Reliance Defence Ltd: An Objective Comparison