The Bharatiya Janata Party hit back at the opposition's attack on the ruling party over the escalating Rafale controversy with #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor on social media. Following the explosive revelations by former French president Francois Hollande over the Rafale deal, the BJP, which has been facing severe criticism from the opposition, accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi for using abusive language against PM Narendra Modi.
“The @INCIndia & Shri. @RahulGandhi repeat untruth several times and use brazen & abusive language about @PMOIndia @narendramodi. They betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor (Rahul's entire family are thieves),” Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.
Hollande, in an interview to a French journal, said that Anil Ambani's company got the offset contract for the Rafale deal at the insistence of the Union government and that the French side had no say in it.
Rahul Gandhi had stepped up the attack on the BJP after Hollande's claims and said desh ka chowkidar chor hai (the country's gatekeeper is a thief).
Reacting to the allegations, senior BJP leader and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the reason why the Rafale deal was sent back for re-examination in 2012, six months after Dassault was identified as the lowest bidder, was because Congress didn't get a bribe. He further accused Rahul that his “entire family is arraigned for scams like the National Herald scam and the Bofors scandal”.
Prasad also called Rahul “an arrogant and ill-informed leader repeating lies after lies”.
This was followed by a series of tweets from other BJP leaders and supporters, and #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor was the hot trend on Twitter.