Rafale is the new Bofors

Has the Rafale aircraft deal with Dassault of France become the new Bofors? There has been more heat than light as claims and counterclaims have been aired by the government and its opponents. The modernisation of the IAF is at stake. But there are questions over whether crony capitalism was involved in the choice of Anil Ambani's company as an offset partner for the 'Make in India' part of the deal. Of course, his firm is only one of 72 Indians companies to collaborate with Dassault.

The rhetoric around the deal to buy 36 jets got so heated that insults are being traded on a daily basis. The words "Chowkidar" and "Chor" have been so prominent that a sedition case has also been filed for the use of the word "thief' against the Prime Minister of the country. Of course, the references to "Gali gali may shor hai" come from the Bofors era when an innocent child recited a poem on AIR saying "Rajiv Gandhi chor hai".

The issue has got more complicated with a former French president weighing in about who chose Reliance Defence as partner. Experts agree that the Rafale is the best bet and that there is no question about its defensive and offensive capabilities. The debate among Twitterati has, as usual, descended into a political quagmire with much name calling with "Ra-Fail" for Rahul and "Chowkidar is a chor" for Modi.  Will the IAF ever get its Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft?

Rahul Gandhi? @RahulGandhi
The PM personally negotiated & changed the #Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to François Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani. The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers.

Arun Jaitley @arunjaitley
Without commenting on the correctness or otherwise of a controversy in the French media, it may be mentioned that the former French President, Hollande, is countering statement made against him with regard to a conflict of interest in his dealing with the Reliance Defence

Vasudevan Gopalaswamy @Vasudev00411816
Probably you are so angry that the billions of dollars that you think is legitimately due to your bankrupt Italian mother's kins have gone to Anil Ambani. Only an antinational could utter such words and the democracy is saving you.Even in US you would have been behind bars

Yanick Toutain@YanickToutain
Who will believe that #NarendraModi was NOT ALSO corrupted by #AnilAmbani? The #bankrupt boss of #Reliance BRIBED #Hollande by financing #JulieGayet's movie with the protection of #Macron #Taubira prosecutor #Molins+#DGSE supposed to warn the justice =#corruptionByForeignState

Ram.Krishnan@synap001
It's obvious HAL cannot produce world class planes ; it's like pappu becoming head of a party unless nominated or paradropped

S Gurumurthy @sgurumurthy
The most important part of the ET report: "Sources told ET that the partnership with Reliance Defence was influenced by the original talks (2012) held with Mukesh Ambani" Next is in UPA Times, Dassault was under pressure to have OIS linked to Vadra

Rajeev Chandrasekhar @rajeev_mp
So @RahulGandhi is ok with #Dassault hvng #Reliance as offset partner under #UPA in 2012 but its a "scam" when same Dassault ties up with #Reliance under #NDA in 2016 ? Yes theres a Scam. And that scam is a shri @RahulGandhi !

Amrita Kaushalya @KaushalyaAmrita
Former President @fhollande personally called & informed you that "in 2012 some @reliancegroup name was proposed by Future PM @narendramodi & the deal with #Dassault were fixed behind closed doors... We buy your narrative Rahul ji

AlkolicMonk@Thakur_IJSingh
Folks do not behave like Pappu,u should check ur facts, Reliance group purchased Pipavav Defence, which is in the business of building warships and other vessels for the Indian navy. So, they are not Juvenile like @RahulGandhi . There are 70 other Companies which Dassault signed

Chetan Bhagat @chetan_bhagat
#RafaelDeal simplified analogy. Say you order mithai for the neighbourhood, but tell the halwai to take the milk from your bhaiya only. Did someone actually say that? Was milk taken at a fair price? Did halwai choose the milk seller on his own based on quality? We don't know yet

Nidhi Razdan@Nidhi
Ahead of April 10th 2015 announcement on Rafale, then Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said in a press conference on April 8th, that discussions were on betw "the French company, our MOD, the HAL". So what changed in 2 days?. Transcript of his press conference on MEA website

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal
Out on bail Rahul Gandhi & his family have long been the primary source of corruption in the country. They are today blaming Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi in the Rafael deal, who has given India its most honest administration since Independence. #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor

Hardeep Singh Puri@HardeepSPuri
From the Jeep Scam of 1948 when Nehru was the PM, to Indira Gandhi's infamous election scandal of 1971 among others. From Rajiv Gandhi's Bofors deal to a barrage of scams, frauds & scams of UPA. The family has kept itself busy with self-development