Rahul Gandhi has linked the terrorist attack that killed 40 paramilitary soldiers last week in Pulwama with the Indo-French deal for Rafale fighter jets, which his Congress party has often cited to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of corruption and crony capitalism.

Specifically, Rahul Gandhi said that in PM Modi's "New India", the 40 martyred CRPF soldiers were "denied the status of 'shaheed'," and that Anil Ambani had taken Rs 30,000 crore of their money.

The Congress has long alleged that Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence was chosen as the Rafale jetmaker's offset partner under pressure from the Narendra Modi government.

Rahul Gandhi's extraordinary attack on the Modi government comes exactly a week

The brave are martyred. Their families struggle.40 Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of Shaheed. While this man has never given & only taken. He’s gifted 30,000Cr of their money & will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modi’s NEW INDIA.https://t.co/VjiJvSzN2h Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 21, 2019

The Congress has stepped up its attacks on the Centre over the bombing on February 14, for which India blames Pakistan and has vowed to take revenge. (The bombing was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group based in Pakistan.)

On Wednesday, during Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to India, the Congress criticised the Modi government for giving him a grand welcome, pointing to investment agreements he recently announced in Pakistan.

Today, the Congress said Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" till the evening of February 14 despite the attack in the afternoon, citing media reports.

Inputs from PTI