The Narendra Modi government's 2015 deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France is increasingly becoming among the most contentious policy issues in recent months. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly raised the Rafale deal, alleging corruption by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Therefore, it is not surprising when the BJP decides to 'explain' itself.
On Monday morning, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya shared a video on Twitter, which he titled “Rafale deal for dummies...”. The video was soon shared and pinned by the official Twitter handle of the BJP.
The video features actress Pallavi Joshi giving the example of how her housing society had failed to buy safety locks from a French company despite negotiating for 10 years. In the video, Joshi claims when she became secretary of the society, she renegotiated the entire deal with the “top boss” of the same company for a lower price, got additional video surveillance technology and even arranged for “manufacturing some parts” of the locks in India.
Joshi also takes a dig at a 2016 remark by Gandhi about opening a “potato factory” when he was campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. The video concludes with Joshi saying the Rafale deal is as “simple” as her housing society explanation, mirroring the points made by the BJP of getting the aircraft at a lower price and with better features than what the Congress-led UPA was negotiating for 126 Rafale jets.
Joshi claims the Modi government saved Rs 12,500 crore in the Rafale deal in addition to getting long-range missiles.
Not to be outdone, the Congress released a video on Twitter on Tuesday with the title “What 'really' is the Rafale deal? NOT for dummies.” In the 21-second-long video, a woman uses the same narrative as Joshi of upgrading locks in a housing society. But the video is only a teaser, with the Congress promising more later on Tuesday.
The video war highlights how the BJP and Congress are perceiving the Rafale deal. While the Joshi video made headlines, it still raises questions on the BJP's sensitivity on the Rafale. Further, the video's claim of “manufacturing some parts” for a housing society deal arguably doesn't stand the test of logical scrutiny even as the government is yet to reveal the nature of the commercial offsets in the Rafale deal. Joshi had previously appeared in a video explaining the BJP's GST proposal in 2016.