A political firestorm broke out on Monday after Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai used a toy Rafale fighter jet adorned with lemon and chillies to mock the Modi government’s response to the deadly Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives on April 22.Rai, who first brandished the toy jet on Sunday, defended his move a day later, saying it was meant to symbolise public frustration over the government’s inaction. “I’m just asking—when will Rafale do its job? The country wants a response, not rituals,” he told reporters.The symbolic gesture was a pointed reference to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s 2019 ‘shastra puja’ in France, where he placed lemons under the wheels of a Rafale jet and broke a coconut before flying it to India. In Hindu tradition, lemons and chillies are believed to ward off evil.Criticising the Centre’s “big talk and no action” stance, Rai said, “Our youth were killed in Pahalgam, but Rafale jets are still in hangars with lemon and chillies. The families of the victims are still waiting for justice. This silence from the government is unacceptable.”Rai added that while the Congress fully supports any action taken against terrorism or Pakistan, the government has failed to deliver. “After Pulwama, I had asked where the RDX came from and who executed the attack. We still don’t have answers.”Reacting strongly, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala accused Rai of damaging national morale. “Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Ajay Rai has made it to Pakistan’s headlines with these antics,” he wrote on X, suggesting Rai’s remarks were a “collaboration with Pakistan.”
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