TIL Desk/World/Paris/ The French government said it feared damage to its relations with India after its former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell Rafale fighter jets to New Delhi. Hollande, who left office in May last year, said on Friday that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in the 2016 deal with the Indian government.
The Narendra Modi government agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambanis Reliance group rather than the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Hollandes announcement that Dassault did not have a say in it added fuel to allegations by opposition parties that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani.
I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France, junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande. Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate, he said in an interview. Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambanis Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.
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