Without naming anyone, Rahul Gandhi attacked "India's Commander-in-Thief" in another tweet.
Highlights
- Rahul Gandhi has given emotional twist to Congress' continuing attack
- He sympathised with soldiers and those who worked for HAL
- Congress has alleged PM Modi sealed the deal without any transparency
Rahul Gandhi has given an emotional twist to the Congress's continuing attack on the ruling BJP over the controversial Rafale jet deal. In his latest tweet, the Congress chief sympathised with soldiers and those who worked for the state-run defence manufacturer which was allegedly ignored to favour a rookie firm, and promised justice in the alleged corruption in the massive $8.6 billion deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The tweet accompanied photographs of war memorial Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate for effect.
The Congress has been alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sealed the deal without any transparency and how it benefitted 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 BJP has dismissed Congress's allegations saying that the party has run out of issues to point fingers at the government and therefore, raking up the Rafale issue to gain political mileage.
Amid allegations and counter-allegations in the run-up to the national elections and several state elections en route, former French president Francois Hollande, who negotiated the Rafale deal with PM Modi, said last week that they weren't given any choice. "...it was the Indian government that proposed Reliance" he had said.
A day later, he said that it was for Dassault to comment on whether it was pressured to collaborate with Mr Ambani's firm.
Dassault has denied any pressure or influence.
Mr Hollande's admission, however, acted as a catalyst for the opposition's attack, empowering the Congress to allege that PM Modi cut out Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to favour Anil Ambani.
While speaking to Congress supporters in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, his parliamentary constituency, Mr Gandhi quipped that "the fun has just begun".
"The man who came to remove corruption has himself given Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani. The fun has just begun, things are set to turn more interesting. In the next two-three months you will have fun after we will show you Narendra Modi's work -- Rafale, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Demonetisation, Gabbar Singh Tax. All of it is theft. One by one, we will show that Narendra Modi ji is not a chowkidar (gatekeeper), but a chor (thief)," Rahul Gandhi said last night.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said nothing else could be expected from a leader whose "entire family" is buried in scams.
"It's a matter of shame for the Congress that a person like Rahul Gandhi, who is irresponsible and is a liar, is their president. We can't expect anything else from a leader whose entire family is buried in scams, be it Bofors or National Herald," said Mr Prasad.
In the history of independent India, no national party president has ever made such comments about a prime minister, he added.
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 would buy 36 ready-to-fly Rafale jets.