NEW DELHI: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday dismissed the criticisms on Rafale deal with India, saying that it only made “your country stronger”.”We are always increasing indigenous components. It’s part of the dialogue between the company and your government. I don’t see how people can criticise because it makes your country stronger, it increases the strategic coordination between us, and it creates more jobs here,” he said, speaking to the reporters.”Very clearly, we are extremely committed to having the maximum number of Indian components and manufacturing the maximum number of critical devices in India,” he added.”The Indians, who are currently customers, want to co-produce with us; we have seen the Rafale here, but they want to co-produce combat aircraft in India. They want to handle more of the maintenance, which is legitimate,” Macron said. Defence ministry, earlier this month, cleared the path for what officials describe as the “mother of all defence deals,” with the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approving the procurement of 114 Rafale fighter jets from France.
