Use common sense, Modi tells Oppn on his Rafale remarks; Cong demands apology from PM

Asking opposition parties to use common sense, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday slammed them for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

As the political dogfight over Modi's remarks escalated with the Congress demanding an apology from him for trying to portray the Indian Air Force as being weaker without Rafale, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the statement that the French jets would have made a difference.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they(opposition parties) say Modi is questioning our air force strike," Modi said, addressing a gathering in Jamnagar in Gujarat.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added. India lost one MiG 21 jet during the fierce dogfight in which one F-16 warplane of Pakistan Air Force(PAF) was also shot down.

"If they(opposition) don't understand me what can I do. They have their own limitations," he told the audience during his 40-minute speech rendered in Gujarati.

Congress spokesperson R P N Singh accused the prime minister and BJP leadership of politicising the air strikes and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the IAF as being weaker without Rafale.

"Here is the prime minister, who says that the Air Force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologize for saying that.....

"The prime minister has tried to show that the Air Force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," Singh told reporters in Delhi.

The Congress Sunday claimed that Modi has himself "questioned" the anti-terror air strike in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 by his remarks that the country is feeling the absence of Rafale jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"The prime minister has himself questioned the air strike. He said had the Rafale jets been there (with the IAF), the results would have been different. What is the meaning of this?" Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told a press conference in Delhi.

Modi had on Saturday hit out at the opposition for doubting the armed forces on the anti-terror air strike in Pakistan and said the country was feeling the absence of Rafale fighter jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"India is feeling the absence of Rafale. The entire country is saying in one voice today, if we had Rafale probably the result would have been different. The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale," he had said at the India Today Conclave.

Dhanoa told reporters in Coimbatore that the Rafale fighters should come into India's inventory by September.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."