China used its embassies to spread misinformation against Rafale jets: Read how Leftist media in India kept doing same lobbying for years
In a sensational expose of China’s disinformation offensive, French intelligence agencies have uncovered a coordinated Chinese campaign, using its embassies and diplomatic channels, to undermine the global reputation and sales of Dassault Aviation’s Rafale fighter jets following India’s high-profile Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
French intelligence reports say that Chinese defence attachés stationed in embassies worldwide spearheaded a targeted effort to dissuade countries especially those in Asia and Africa from purchasing or expanding orders of the Rafale. Countries like Indonesia, which had already signed contracts for the French jet, were specifically lobbied to reconsider their procurement plans in favour of Chinese-made aircraft.
Pakistan’s rapid push to publicise unverified claims of Rafale losses was to cover up its own failures against the Indian attack and China’s bid to erode confidence in the French jet and promote Chinese military exports while deflecting global attention from the failure of the Chinese defence system against India’s attacks deep inside Pakistan. While China used its embassies in foreign nations to peddle disinformation about Indian Rafales, the political opposition and the leftist media cabal have long been engaged in similar lobbying for years.
Opposition and leftist media cabal’s anti-Rafale campaign
As China’s sinister propaganda tactics to peddle falsehoods about Rafale jets to position Chinese fighter aircraft as a better and more potent alternative while also tarnishing India’s image, it must be recalled how the Indian opposition parties led by Congress and leftist media ecosystem tried to sabotage the Indo-French Rafale deal.
In a government-to-government agreement, India bought 36 Rafale fighter jets from France in 2020. This has greatly improved India’s aviation capabilities and afforded it a competitive advantage over Pakistan in the US-made F-16 fighter jet market. According to reports, India targeted Bahawalpur, which is located about 100 kilometres deep into Pakistani territory, using Rafale fighters equipped with Scalp missiles. Moreover, owing to its long-range attack potential, Rafale didn’t even need to cross the border to accomplish this.
However, former French President Francois Hollande’s statement caused a political controversy in India when he claimed that Dassault Aviation had been allegedly forced by the Modi government to collaborate with Reliance Defence of India to comply with its “offset policy.” Foreign companies must contribute at least 30% of a deal’s value back to India, according to the clause in Delhi’s defence procurement regulations.
The Congress party then accused Prime Minister Modi of prioritising an Indian company and even engaging in crony capitalism by supporting Anil Ambani’s company. On the other hand, the BJP consistently refuted these claims, asserting that the government entered into the agreement to fulfil the combat needs of the Indian Air Force and played no part in selecting the local partner of the French manufacturer.
Rahul Gandhi even called the Rafale deal a scam during the 2019 general elections, as part of the Congress party’s massive electoral attack against the Modi government for proceeding with the deal. He was even reprimanded by the Supreme Court for misusing its name and disseminating falsehoods purely for political smear tactics aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Rae Bareli Lok Sabha MP coined “chowkidar chor hai”, after which former union minister Minister Meenakshi Lekhi initiated a contempt case against him for misattributing the slogan to the initial ruling of the apex court in the Rafale case. He had issued an apology at the prior hearing for misquoting the Supreme Court. However, the latter was not persuaded by his prior affidavit and had asked for a written apology.
Notably, the matter was even dragged to the top court by Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC/TMC) leader Yashwant Sinha and others, alleging that the Rafale Fighter Jet Deal had significant procedural flaws. The bench, however, rejected the appeal for a court-monitored investigation on 14th December 2018 and noted that there were no anomalies in the price, decision-making procedure or choice of off-set partner.
While Congress, other opposition parties and the anti-Modi lobby left no stone unturned to project Narendra Modi as ‘corrupt’, not only the Supreme Court but also the people of India outrightly rejected Rahul Gandhi’s apocryphal narrative and gave a historic victory to the BJP-led alliance in the 2019 general elections.
The opposition parties were joined by leftist propaganda outlets like The Wire and The Hindu in mounting a sustained campaign alleging corruption, cronyism, inflated costs of the deal and whatnot.
OpIndia reported earlier how N. Ram, the Chairman of the Kasturi & Sons Limited and publisher of The Hindu, desperately tried to create an anti-Modi wave by manufacturing a ‘defence scam’ in the Rafale deal.
On February 8, 2019, The Hindu published a note from a defence ministry official who had objected to the Prime Minister’s office inquiring about the progress of the deal. This was even though the officer was not involved in the negotiations of the deal. The Hindu wanted to project that there was opposition to the Rafale deal in the defence ministry and only the Prime Minister was pushing for it. In doing so, the newspaper had cropped a vital part in the same document, a note by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The then defence minister had written that the officer was overreacting, and the offices of the Indian PM and French President were just monitoring the progress of the deal.
Immediately after the Hindu report, ANI published the full document, which proved that N Ram had used a cropped version of the document in his article. About 10 days after the incident, The Hindu came up with a clarification, saying that it did not doctor the document. In its column Readers Editor, it has claimed that the document published by it was an earlier version, which didn’t include the Defence Minister’s note. As proof of the same, The Hindu noted that the document published by ANI had serial numbers on each note, while there were no serial numbers on the document published by Hindu.
To hide the evidence of Parrikar’s note, the Hindu cropped the document in two places, and even digitally erased part of a stamp that should have been visible even after cropping the same. And its claim that it did not doctor the document turned out to be false, because a date stamp before the defence secretary’s note was clearly removed from the document. As such, the petition in the Supreme Court over the alleged snooping scandal looks like another desperate attempt at anti-Modi propaganda. The Hindu and its Frontline magazine had published several articles insinuating foul play in the Rafale deal.
Mediapart, a media portal in France, has published what it calls ‘fake invoices’ that are alleged to have helped Dassault secure the deal for the 36 Rafale jets with the Indian Government. Mediapart claimed that Indian agencies did not pursue the case despite the existence of the fake invoices. This report was widely cited by Indian leftist propaganda outlets like Newslaundry, The Wire, and The Hindu among others and opposition leaders, however, the ‘fake invoices’ cited by Mediapart occurred when the UPA Government was in power. According to the invoices, payments totalling around 11 million Euros were made to a firm in Singapore. The invoices are related to a deal that the UPA Government was trying to make. After the NDA Government came to power, the UPA era deal was scrapped and the Indian Government secured a government-to-government deal.
The opposition used the warp and weft of lies and propaganda concocted by the leftist and pro-China media for its political gains. Not to forget, the opposition created a ruckus demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe against the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government. The opposition hampered the functioning of the Parliamentary sessions in 2021 with the dubious media organisation fanning falsehoods within a fortnight gap with that year’s Parliamentary sessions.
Interestingly, the NGO that filed a complaint against Rafale Deal was partners with anti-Modi regime change specialist and philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society, Misereor, and Oxfam among others.
Even recently, The Wire’s website was blocked in India, for twisting an Indian Armed Forces official’s statement to peddle a false narrative and attack the Modi government for alleged aircraft loss during Operation Sindoor. At a time when Pakistan is using all tactics at hand to peddle anti-India lies, The Wire decided to bat from China-backed Pakistan’s side, however, after the Indian government blocked its website, the leftist propaganda portal reluctantly removed the misleading report.
It, however, is not shocking that the narrative pushed by Congress and leftist media portals almost always aligns with the Chinese narrative. It must be recalled that leftist propaganda outlet NewsClick was exposed in 2023 for receiving Chinese funding to push pro-China narratives. NewsClick was also among the media outlets which amplified anti-Rafale sentiment. The way the Rafale Deal faced a concerted attack from leftist media and the political opposition, it is evident that a coordinated effort was made to undermine India’s defence acquisitions.
Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s undying limerence for China
Congress and its prince Rahul Gandhi share an outrageously deep and persistent relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed his admiration for China on several occasions.
In his controversial speech at Cambridge Judge Business School in March 2023, Rahul Gandhi hailed China as an ‘aspiring superpower’ and ‘force of nature’. He further alleged that China harbours ‘social harmony’.
The Gandhi scion had also lauded China’s controversial and predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as the destructive debt-trap diplomacy calling it ‘prosperity’.
During a conversation with The Print columnist Shruti Kapila in 2022, Rahul Gandhi praised the Belt and Road Initiative and claimed that China wanted the countries around it to prosper.
During his tour to Ladakh in 2023, Rahul Gandhi claimed that China had grabbed India’s grazing land in Ladakh. However, Gandhi during his UK visit in May 2022 had asserted that “Ladakh is to China what Ukraine is to Russia.”
The Congress leader back then had even urged foreign powers to intervene in India’s internal matters. Back in 2020, details about the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s (RGF) monetary operations emerged.
OpIndia had previously published detailed pieces about the Chinese government’s financial contributions of more than Rs 1 crore to RGF between 2006 and afterwards.
In 2008, during UPA1, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Congress party signed an agreement for the sharing of high-level information and collaboration.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have served as trustees of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation since 2005, while Sonia Gandhi serves as the foundation’s chairperson.
It’s amusing to see how times change and even ‘partners’ turn hostile, even if just to score political brownie points.
The Congress party had signed an MoU with the Chinese government, and Rahul Gandhi had secretly met the Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui in 2017 during the Doklam standoff.
He even secretly met Chinese ministers in September 2018 during his Kailash Mansarovar visit. Before this, Rahul Gandhi and Luo Zhaohui, the Chinese ambassador to India, met on July 8th, 2017, but their conversation was private. The Congress party referred to several media reports of the meeting as fake news. Yet, the Chinese embassy afterwards posted a statement on its website confirming the meeting. Eventually, Rahul Gandhi came to his own rescue as he confirmed his meeting with the Chinese Ambassador.
In February 2025, Sam Pitroda, the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, downplayed threats from China and claimed that the Communist-run country is not ‘our enemy’.
While speaking to news agency IANS, he claimed, “I don’t know what is the threat from China. I think there is always this thing blown out of (at times) proportion.”
Sam Pitroda blamed the US for creating a hostile perception of China. He went on to blame India for harbouring an attitude of confrontation towards the Communist regime.
“To assume that China is the enemy from day one is just not fair, not just to China but to anybody. I think it is time for us to learn to increase communication, collaborate, cooperate and co-create and not have this command and control mindset. China is around, China is growing,” the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress brazened out.
Interestingly, the Congress party’s love for China is not confined to lobbying against Rafale deal, signing MoUs with China, and receiving funds from the CCP for Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The party prince Rahul Gandhi has been obsessing over Chinese military technology even in the Indian parliament.
Back in 2021, Rahul Gandhi questioned in the Lok Sabha, why Indian security forces were not using Chinese-style surveillance drones, lauding the Chinese PLA’s tactics during the Ladakh standoff.
In 2023, during his UK visit, Rahul Gandhi claimed China is winning the “technology race”. Gandhi suggested India learn from Chinese military innovation, including drone warfare.
During his 45-minute speech in the parliament in February 2025, Rahul Gandhi mentioned China around 34 times and highlighted the country’s dominance in the manufacturing sector and technological advancement.
In February this year, Rahul Gandhi showcased a banned Chinese drone in a social media post. In what came across as nothing less than a China-sponsored defence advertisement, Rahul Gandhi used the banned Chinese drone to assert that India needed a “strong production base” to manufacture drones and “not empty words”. In his attempt to promote Chinese defence tech as ‘superior’, Rahul Gandhi resorted to belittling the Indian drone industry. Perhaps, Gandhi must have been very upset with the success of indigenously manufactured drones during Operation Sindoor.
“Drones are not just one technology, they are bottom-up innovations produced by a strong industrial system. Unfortunately, PM Modi has failed to grasp this. While he delivers ‘teleprompter’ speeches on AI, our competitors are mastering new technologies. India needs a strong production base, not empty words,“ Gandhi posted.
In June this year, Rahul Gandhi defied facts and data to claim that the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative is merely ‘Assemble in India’ and that China is far ahead of India in manufacturing sector. However, OpIndia published a data-based rebuttal to Gandhi’s pro-China claims.
Conclusion
Clearly, the political agenda and ideological imperative to oppose the BJP-led government drove the opposition parties and the leftist media cabal to amplify Chinese propaganda, weaken national security discourse, and even try to sabotage the Rafale deal. The opposition and leftist media’s persistent pro-China lobbying, echoing Chinese propaganda to attack the Indian government is nothing but a stark betrayal of Indian national interests at the cost of partisan gains.
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