india

Updated: Apr 26, 2020 01:50 IST

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh credited former Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of reviving the contentious Rafale deal and helping its completion.

Speaking at the state level condolence meeting held on the 12th day since Parrikar’s passing, Singh who was a special invitee on the occasion said Parrikar who was chosen to be the country’s Defence Minister due to his unblemished record and decisiveness helped the country get the next generation fighter jets which were in the pipeline for more than three decades.

“For a long time, India did not have the next generation fighter plane. It was natural that a country of our kind needed the next generation fighter planes. The Rafale deal was pending for many years. And the Prime Minister gave Parrikar the responsibility and in 2016 the deal was announced with the French Defence Minister. Parrikar too had an important role in quickening the deal,” Rajnath Singh said.

“The Light Combat Aircraft, which we call Tejas, which some months back were given operational clearance by Air Force, even for this Parrikar played a very important role to bring it where it is,” Singh recalled.

Watch: ‘Manohar Parrikar played a crucial role in two air strikes’: Rajnath Singh

The opposition has consistently claimed that the Prime Minister unilaterally changed the pricing of the Rafale aircraft and that he bypassed his then defence minister Manohar Parrikar in signing the deal.

Singh also recalled how Parrikar ‘alone’ solve the one rank one pension issue.

“I personally know how much of an important role Parrikar played in resolving that issue.

The Prime Minister told him that it is his responsibility you see how it can be solved. That job too he solved,” Singh said.

Earlier Goa Governor Mridula Sinha while praising Parrikar said she hoped that he was ‘reborn’.

“We all know that everyone who is born also dies. But it is also true in our society, that the dead person also comes back in another form. The personality is born again. “We all hope that Manohar is born again. This can happen, but the anticipation that it will happen is less,” she said.