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 | Navy chief calls Russia's bluff Our Correspondent It was typical of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to maintain silence over the unjust demands made by Russia regarding the purchase of the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Moscow sought $1.2 billion more for the aircraft carrier, more than twice the original cost. And it was atypical of a service chief to raise a few uncomfortable questions about the deal. The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, should be lauded for speaking out against any renegotiation on the Gorshkov price and the delay in delivery. "The Navy line is that the Government should not get into price renegotiation at all. If today we reopen Gorshkov, tomorrow all our projects with Russia can be opened for renegotiation," Mehta told reporters ahead of Navy Day celebrations. He hit the nail on its head when he said that Russia reduced the project manpower once its shipyards got more business after modernising "with our money." In 2004, Russia gave us the carrier for free because its shipyards were desperate for some work. "The sudden oil boom too has brought about a lot of prosperity, enabling the Russians to launch new warships and submarines, diverting the workforce," he said. In short, Russia has taken us for a ride, but the UPA regime neither speaks against the breach of trust by a nation which claims decades of friendship with us, nor does it have the guts to do anything about the unfaithfulness. It is indeed unfaithfulness because Moscow used India's money to build its armaments industry and it is now supply arms to China, whose hostility towards us is well known. The Admiral candidly said that the since Goshkov developments have changed the Indo-Russian ties equation, in the future Russia would be treated like any other defence manufacturing country. "Our current Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) has clearly brought out that there is need for a multi-vendor situation for all procurements. In this case, the lowest bidder gets the contract. This is also how we will deal with acquisitions, with Russia in future," he said. Eyebrows are likely to be raised over Admiral Mehta's plain speaking, for military brass is not supposed to discuss bilateral relations in public, but that was perhaps the only way out for him. A Government that has become habituated to surrenders—to the Left, to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to Muslim fundamentalists, to various lobbies, to the jholawallahs—could n ever have garnered enough courage to call Russia's bluff. By exposing Moscow's untrustworthiness, Admrial Mehta may have annoyed his political bosses, but he has done the nation a favour. He has done his duty. Quite gallantly. Posted on : 12/7/2007 Mail this article to your friend |