Left organisations to hold protests over Rafale deal from Oct 22

More than 100 organisations affiliated to various Left parties will jointly launch a week-long nationwide protest from October 22 to "expose" the alleged scam in the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

During the 'Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan', they will demand a joint parliamentary committee probe to "unearth the corruption" in the Rafale deal and the resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Convenor of JEJA and CPI(M) lawmaker Hannan Mollah Friday alleged that the multi-crore Rafale deal is the largest defence scam in the country.

"The Rafale deal is a major corruption that needs a thorough investigation by a joint parliamentary committee. Only a JPC probe can bring all the shady details behind the deal before public," said Mollah.

Questioning the government's "nationalism" claim, Mollah said "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is misusing nationalism to cover the loot of public money".

He alleged that the Modi government is "engrossed in pleasing crony capitalists" by showing them ways to maximise their profits at the cost of public exchequer.

"The Rafale scam is a clear example of high-level corruption involving none other than the prime minister. The loss to the exchequer from this deal could be around Rs 41,250 crore," alleged the CPI(M) leader.

The JEJA convenor claimed public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was bypassed from the deal to benefit private entities which have no experience in manufacturing fighter aircraft and in the aviation sector.

During the week-long campaign , JEJA will stage demonstrations and sit-ins at district level across the country.