Rahul Gandhi has been alleging that the new Rafale deal was signed to help industrialist Anil Ambani.
Highlights
- In a poem, Rahul Gandhi targets a "saheb" for rise in fuel prices
- He took a swipe at PM Modi with a Hindi poem attacking him on Rafale deal
- Through poetry, he also attacked BJP on the depreciation of the rupee
Rahul Gandhi has found a new weapon to attack the ruling BJP over a host of issues. The Congress chief is using poetry in his tweets to highlight what his party calls as rampant corruption in Rafale deal and the government's failure to keep a check on rising fuel prices and rupee's fall against the robust dollar.
In his latest lament in verse, he targets a "saheb" for the upsurge in the prices of petrol and diesel while continuing his attack over the controversial Rafale fighter jets deal and rupee's misery.
Earlier on Thursday, he had hit out at the Modi government for reportedly targeting a Defence Ministry official who allegedly raised "objections" over the price of the Rafale jets.
He took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a poem, written in Hindi, alleging that he gave benefits to "crony capitalists" at the cost of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the Rafale deal.
He also alleged that a senior officer, who overruled the official who raised questions over the Rafale jets pricing, was made a member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
In another tweet on Friday, Mr Gandhi also raised questions on the Ayushman Bharat, the national health insurance for 50 crore Indians and juxtaposed Rs 2,000 crore for the scheme versus the alleged 1,30,000 crore for Anil Ambani in the Rafale scam. He claimed that the Rs 2,000 crore in the health scheme for 50 crore Indians works out to a mere Rs 40 per person annual expense.
The Congress has been alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi closed the deal without any transparency to benefit Anil Ambani, whose debt-ridden firm became Dassault's offset partner in India.
Dassault, the company that manufactures the Rafale fighter, has to invest 50 per cent of the overall value of the deal or Rs. 30,000 crore in partnering with defence manufacturers in India.
The deal to buy Rafale fighters was signed by the NDA government with France in 2016 after the previous Congress government's negotiations were scrapped. The Congress-led UPA's plan was to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France's Dassault Aviation, with 108 others being assembled in India by the HAL in Bengaluru.
But according to the new deal, India is buying 36 ready-to-fly Rafale jets.