Trinamul Congress MP Saugata Roy on Wednesday took potshots at Arun Jaitley during the Rafale deal debate in the Lok Sabha, questioning the finance minister’s French pronunciation and describing him as the “cloud” in the Ramayan that acts as a cover for Narendra Modi’s battle.

Without taking any names, Roy said it was “pathetic” that the NDA had to borrow a Rajya Sabha member to speak on the Rafale deal despite having 300 members in the Lok Sabha.

“Not only that, the member from the Rajya Sabha is not even the defence minister. Though he claims to be an expert of defence,” Roy said.

The Trinamul member then named the finance minister and remarked: “Mr Jaitley has lost his touch.”

He said Jaitley had quoted Ian Fleming but got it wrong. “He (Jaitley) quoted Ian Fleming as saying, ‘the first time it is happenstance, the second time it is coincidence, the third time it is enemy action.’ Mr Jaitley said something else,” Roy pointed out. The minister appeared to be angry.

Jaitley had earlier said: “I am sure Shri Rahul Gandhi in his earlier days was seeing the James Bond films. James Bond had said: ‘If it is once, it is a happenstance’. It can happen. ‘If it is twice, it is a coincidence; and if it is thrice, it is a conspiracy’”.

Jaitley was referring to the three cases of alleged corruption against the Congress: Bofors, National Herald and the Augusta chopper deal.

The Trinamul leader also questioned Jaitley’s pronunciation of former French President Francois Hollande’s name while talking about the Rafale deal. “I want to remind Jaitleyji a little about French pronunciation. HOLLANDE in French is not pronounced as ‘Holland’. His name is pronounced as ‘Olaande’,” Roy said.

“You called him Holland as if it is Holland country. That was a totally wrong pronunciation,” he added.

Roy said Jaitley’s effort to defend Modi on the Rafale deal reminded him of Meghnad’s battle described in the Ramayan. “Madam (Speaker), the actual battle is like that of Meghnad. You know about Meghnad in the Ramayan. He fought from behind the clouds,” Roy said.

“The actual Meghnad is Narendra Modi. He is hiding behind Arun Jaitley who is the cloud,” Roy added, prompting angry BJP members to raise slogans on corruption allegations, such as those linked to Saradha, levelled against Trinamul leaders.

Roy said Modi did not have the courage to face Parliament. The Prime Minister was not present in the Lok Sabha during the Rafale debate on Wednesday.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley. (PTI)