Defence Minister of India – Rajnath Singh – has been in the news since yesterday for something rather unusual. Nimbu mirchi.
Rajnath Singh performed a puja of a Rafale jet by placing lemons under its wheels and coconut on the top, the pictures of which are now doing rounds on social media.
Hamara Bajaj moment on French soil. Taking delivery of French-made fighter jets equipped with cutting edge technology and still using nimboos to ward off evil spirits and coconuts to make it holy. Thank god we are alive to see such interesting things. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/qNlvJSFzWZ
— Manimugdha Sharma (@quizzicalguy) October 8, 2019
The pictures were shared so many times, that the phrase became one of the top trends on Twitter India.
*Next Budget* :
— St. Sinner (@retheeshraj10) October 9, 2019
Nirmala Sitharaman: Rafale Jet, 1600 Crore + 20 Rs extra.
Speaker : 20 Rs??
N.S : Nimbu Mirchi ka.
How does the nimbu mirchi technology work? #Rafale
— علي (@OpusOfAli) October 9, 2019
Shastra pooja for new Rafale equipments whose purchase was delayed by over 2 years, among other dubious things surrounding the same. What’s Next?
— Tanmay Dubey (@Author_Tanmay) October 9, 2019
Ensuring the presence of nimbu-mirchi in all equipments?#RafalePujaPolitics pic.twitter.com/8pfxhVqRq3
US: We have Atom Bomb
— Nенr_wно™ (@Nehr_who) October 9, 2019
UK: We have Hydrogen Bomb
China: We have Deadly Missiles
Russia: We hv Chemical Weapon
India: We hav Nimbus and Coconut
Indian govt buys Rafale to protect the country…. Then they buy Nimbu(lemon) to protect Rafale..😂😂 #RunawayAirForce_IAF pic.twitter.com/gtqG64Lgtu
— Imran Khan (@Imrankhan_IK2) October 8, 2019
The jet was the first of the 36 that India purchased from France’s Dassault Aviation in Merignac.
In addition to the lemons and coconut, om was also written on the nose of the jet as part of the shastra pooja to celebrate this big purchase. Later, the Defence Minister took part in a sortie on the same jet.
Raksha Mantri shri @rajnathsingh is taking a sortie in Rafale at Merignac in France pic.twitter.com/xEyoIwQeet
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) October 8, 2019
Coconut and flowers on the #Rafale’s Safran Front Sector Optronics (FSO), an infrared search & track system. pic.twitter.com/EgQRzUdvxo
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) October 8, 2019
Om, symbolically embodies the divine energy, or Shakti…
— SHARADA💕 (@Sharada_naik) October 8, 2019
Om is considered to have high spiritual and creative power…
Defence minister Shri Rajnath Singh writing ‘Om on Rafale …🙏 pic.twitter.com/NVIpzLTi1g
Got to admit that the French are missing a trick with the handover of Rafale to Indian Air Force
— N South (@nat_ahoy) October 8, 2019
Flowers check
Coconut check
Sweet check
Limes (?) check
And ‘om’ on the side pic.twitter.com/GhEQr5LtFo
India signed a 36-jet deal with France in September 2016 and it cost the government ₹59,000 crore.
