Why the Rafale aircraft controversy is a gift that keeps on giving

The Rafale controversy has been hogging the limelight in the national media for quite some time now. Despite being in the works for well over a decade, this defence deal with the French firm, Dassault Aviation, still remains shrouded in mystery. 

But despite transparency being the need of the hour, all we've been getting are half-truths served with a generous helping of allegations and counter-allegations by the country's biggest political parties – the BJP and Congress. And to complicate matters some more, former French president Francois Hollande stirred the pot recently by claiming that the Indian government had “proposed” Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rafale aircraft deal.

The particular claim has given a new lease of life to the ongoing controversy and dealt a serious blow to PM Modi's claims of "corruption-free governance".

But more importantly, it gave the Twitterati a chance to do what they know best – flood the internet with memes and (at times bad) jokes. 

But this wasn't all.

Like a gift that keeps on giving, over the past week, the Rafale deal controversy also gave us a gem in the form of a tweet by the saviour of India's confused youth, Chetan Bhagat. The author took to Twitter on Saturday to help millions of simpletons by explaining the Rafale controversy with the help of a "simplified analogy". 

However, as it turns out, the analogy ended up being too simple for his own good as Bhagat ended up equating the multi-billion dollar fighter jets to "mithai" made by your neighbourhood "halwai". 

Well, in Twitterverse that's faux pas 101 for you. 

Understandably, all hell broke loose and Bhagat and his tweet became the butt of some not so meetha jokes. 

Well, as we said, a gift that just keeps on giving. 

Also read: Rafale deal: Why Modi government's communication strategy is faltering