Where was Mr Aiyer's concern in procuring Mig29M, Mirage 2000, and Mig29K's with zero industrial benefit?
Apart that those were deals in different times and conditions, all the things that you mentioned have no relation to the MMRCA / Rafale deal, nor does it make what he said in this case less true does it? I am with you when it comes to him personally and that he belongs to the worst of the politicians India has, but personal likes or dislikes are one thing, facts another. You don't have to like him, to admit that he has a point here.
The Congress took a very long time (10 years) to do nothing on the fighter front. Modi has made a stop gap purchase after giving the MMRCA negotiations 1 more year, which led nowhere.
Id rather have Modis government in charge of defence over the sit on your hands do nothing St. Anthony.
The "Modi government", includes the DM's Jaitley and Parrikar, which did exactly the same as Antony did by pushing the MMRCA tender and not just a stop gap solution, since the MMRCA tender is the important deal for India. Jaitley continued with the process of negotiations with Dassault, where Antony left and finished the last steps of the ToT and offsets requirement. Parrikar is even on record, to say EXACTLY the same to Dassault as Antony did, that they have to comply to the RFP.
So in this case, no matter if one likes it or not for political reasons,
there is no difference between UPA or NDA policy, since they both wanted the same for India and the IAF!
The only difference that was made now, was the PM taking a decision against the "Indian policy" we had in this deal and the needs of the IAF, because this puts both the MoD and the IAF in disadvantage. The earlier has no leverage to put pressure on Dassault anymore and the latter is more than clear that 36 fighters doesn't make a difference, unless they are part of the larger deal. MoD wants the MMRCA, IAF wants the MMRCA, only the PM suddenly (but in time for his foreign visit) wanted something else.
So you actually can't be for the Modi government and for Modi here at the same time, since both wanted different things!
Sancho and Mani Shankar Aiyer think alike
Not even close! But I give credit to anybody, when it's due, not because I like or dislike him.