Opinion | Bofors To Rafale: Has PM Modi Successfully Ended The Scam Veto On Defence Procurement?

The Modi administration has cut out middlemen and adopted an institutional mechanism, preferring government-to-government procurement

For decades, Indian defence procurement operated under an invisible but powerful constraint. And that was, in simple terms, the fear of scandal. The fear of middlemen being caught paying kickbacks on behalf of defence firms to sway government and military officials to swing lucrative defence contracts.

In the 1980s, the Rs 64-crore Bofors scandal marked the Indian defence establishment’s descent into the mire of arms corruption and pockmarked the legacy of Rajiv Gandhi.

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Since then, from artillery to helicopters to submarines, allegations, proven or unproven, have cast such long shadows that decision-makers began preferring delay over decisiveness. Most of these cases erupted during the Congress-led UPA years. The result of this hesitancy manifested what many in uniform privately called a “default veto" on big-ticket acquisitions. After controversies such as the VVIP helicopter case involving AgustaWestland or procurement rows that led to prolonged investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation, files slowed, and extensions multiplied. AK Antony, defence minister during the UPA years, openly admitted to this paralysis that threatened to blunt India’s military edge.

Against that backdrop, the Modi government seems like a breath of fresh air.

Instead of freezing procurement in anticipation of political backlash, the NDA under Narendra Modi has gone ahead, albeit by pursuing a different approach. It has cut out the middleman. Cut out procurement from the open market. It has adopted an institutional mechanism, preferring government-to-government procurement.

This has ensured that military modernisation could not remain hostage to the fear of corrupt practices. Whether one agrees with the method, the uptick in strategic purchases suggests a system that seems to have finally broken the cycle of scandal-induced stagnation.

© News18