BJP-Congress Twitter war over Rafale: Saffron party releases video mocking Rahul Gandhi for not knowing price of jet

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday continued its attack on the Congress and its allegations that the Narendra Modi government had inked the Rafale deal with France at inflated prices. The war, which is exclusively being fought on Twitter, began when the BJP released a video on the micro-blogging site mocking Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against Modi over the Rafale deal. In a video titled “What was the cost of Rafale aircraft during the UPA regime? Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know”, the BJP put together clips of the Congress president in which he purportedly mentions varying costs of each fighter jet under the deal which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had prepared.

Rafale विमान एक, दाम अनेक। pic.twitter.com/bbbwN0ExNt

— BJP (@BJP4India) August 14, 2018

The video starts with a clip of Rahul speaking in the Lok Sabha on 20 July. He says that the cost of each fighter jet in the UPA’s Rafale deal was Rs 520 crore. The video moves on to a clip of Rahul speaking at a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur on 10 August, where he says the UPA had prepared an agreement for 126 Rafale fighter jets at Rs 540 crore per aircraft. Next is a clip of the Congress president addressing a rally in Jaipur in Rajasthan on 11 August, where he repeats the allegations. Another clip shows Rahul at a rally in Karnataka's Bidar on 13 August where he says that each Rafale jet cost Rs 526 crore during the UPA’s regime. “Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know the right cost of the Rafale jets himself. Now, he’s out to misguide the public,” the BJP’s video says in conclusion. The video comes a day after the BJP released a video titled “ Rafale deal for dummies ”. It featured TV actor Pallavi Joshi, who explains the pact with an analogy comparing the aircraft deal with the workings of a housing society in Mumbai. In response to this clip, the Congress on Tuesday released a counter-video titled “What ‘really’ is the Rafale deal? NOT for dummies”. The woman in the video uses the same housing society reference to explain the Rafale deal from the party’s perspective. She also makes a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oft-repeated “chowkidaar” and “chaiwala” narrative. “The Rafale deal is a well-thought-out scam in which the country’s own money is being stolen from it. Collaboration in a scam and dishonesty in security — that is the modus operandi of this government,” the woman says in the video.

In September 2017, India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The Congress has been alleging that the cost of each jet was inflated under the new terms of the deal. On 13 August, the Congress president had  challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a debate  on the Rafale aircraft deal. “…Let a debate be held between me and Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal… I will speak at length for hours,” Rahul had said at the Bidar rally. He had also accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of lying, saying that the French president had denied her claim that there was a secrecy pact between India and France because of which the Centre could not reveal the price of the Rafale aircraft.