Rajnath Singh hails Chirac, Vajpayee at Rafale handover | Full speech

Defence Minster Rajnath Singh paid tributes to former French President Jacques Chirac and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a speech ahead of India receiving the first of the Rafale fighter aircraft in France on Tuesday.

Singh said October 8 is a milestone for Indo-France strategic partnership and marks a new high in bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries.

"Former President Jacques Chirac had laid the basic groundwork for strategic partnership between India and France along with Prime Minister Vajpayee," said Singh.