Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said in Gujarat's Jamnagar public rally that had the Indian Air Force had the Rafale fighter jets today, "the situation would have been different" at a time when India and Pakistan are hostile to each other. "I can't do anything if some people fail to understand this," he added.

A couple of days ago, the PM suggested that Abhinandan wouldn't have been shot down had he used Rafale, whose acquisition was halted by the previous UPA government. It may be noted that the UPA's negotiations started in 2007 and were stalled in 2012. In 2014, Defence Minister AK Antony openly said that the government has no money to acquire Rafale jets.

"If Wing Commander Abhinandan had been flying a Rafale, he would have shot down 2 F-16s, not 1. And he wouldn’t have been shot down given Rafale’s far superior avionics than his 1960s upgraded MIG-21 Bison," columnist Minhaz Merchant writes.