Rajnath Singh's #MeToo dig at Congress irks activists

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday used the MeToo analogy to caution opposition parties from joining hands with the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saying anyone who aligned with the grand old party failed in politics.

The reports stated that Singh, who was attending a BJP youth event in Hyderabad, said: "Later on, a situation should not arise when the alliance parties are deceived by the Congress and are forced to scream MeToo."

The Home Minister's reference was to the movement that has empowered women to call out their harassers at workplaces. Singh is heading a committee of a group of ministers that will address the issue.

The reference attracted criticism on social media with many saying the Home Minister should have hurt the essence of MeToo movement and should not have made such references.

At the event, Singh also said the BJP-led NDA government worked a better deal to buy Rafale fighter jets from France than the previous UPA dispensation.

"Opposition parties are reiterating their allegations against the deal with the hope that if they tell a lie a hundred times, people will eventually come to accept it to some extent," said the minister refuting all charges of the opposition parties.

"I would like to tell the people of India that this deal was negotiated during the UPA rule too. The deal we have worked is a better deal. We signed it keeping national interest in view," he said.

The planes that the NDA government has decided to buy are "battle-ready", he said.

In September 2016, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to buy the jets, the delivery of which is slated to begin from September 2019.