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.
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 https://t.co/o76HiaYtDh
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) September 22, 2018
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.
Govt of France issued clarification against Rahul Gandhi’s claims in Parliament about his conversation with French President. Rahul Gandhi said Manmohan Singh was also present there. Can Manmohan Singh confirm if Mr. Gandhi said in Parliament was correct?#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor
— RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) September 22, 2018
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
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 22, 2018
#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor (Rahuls entire family are thieves) cong.president's derogatory remarks against @PMOIndia is condemned. Cong.partys AtoZ corruption fresh in people's mind .Honest govt ever since independence is by @narendramodi
— Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (@DrTamilisaiBJP) September 22, 2018
All @INCIndia does these days is say lies and repeat it continuously. @RahulGandhi ji may have invented a machine to convert aloo to sona but unfortunately for him, a machine to convert a lie into truth as not been invented yet.#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor
— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) September 22, 2018
Irony is Rahul Gandhi calling our Hon'ble PM a chor when the entire nation knows that his clan is notoriously infamous for being involved in giant corruption scams. #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor
— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) September 22, 2018
