In a rare and candid admission, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy acknowledged that Pakistan shot down five Indian Air Force jets during the recent conflict.
Speaking in an interview, Swamy said that the Indian planes were defeated in air combat as Pakistan deployed Chinese fighter jets which outperformed the French-made aircraft used by New Delhi.
“Pakistan downed five of our planes. They used Chinese planes to down our planes, which were French,” Swamy revealed. “The Chinese planes were good, but the French were not. Rafale is not up to the mark as per India’s needs,” he added, criticising the performance of the highly-touted Rafale jets.
He went on to make a startling claim regarding the controversial Rafale deal, alleging corruption in the procurement process. “Corruption happened in Rafale which won’t be investigated till Modi is the PM,” he stated firmly.
Discussing the lack of accountability within the Indian leadership, Swamy said that under the current prime minister, an open probe into the aircraft losses is highly unlikely. “With Modi in power, no discussions or investigations will happen about how and why those jets were downed,” he said.
The military confrontation between the two countries was triggered by last month’s attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) that left 26 tourists dead, with India blaming Pakistan for the attack without offering any evidence.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s armed forces launched a large-scale retaliatory military action, named “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos”, and targeted several Indian military targets across multiple regions.
Pakistan downed its six fighter jets, including three Rafale, and dozens of drones. After at least 87 hours, the war between the two nuclear-armed nations ended on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
When asked about the downing of Indian jets during the conflict, Indian Air Marshal AK Bharti had said that “losses are a part of combat,” without providing further details.
“[I] would not like to comment as we are still in air combat situation. It will be advantage for adversary. We have achieved our objectives. All our pilots are back home,” he had claimed as reported by NDTV.
According to ISPR, a total of 53 individuals, including 13 personnel of the armed forces and 40 civilians, were martyred in Indian strikes during the recent military confrontation.
