Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 9: The Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has reiterated his challenge to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an “open debate” who depended on foreign support for their respective political career.
Hitting back at Mr Modi over his ‘Dimagi Naxal’ remark at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Camp at Bastar in Chhattisgarh celebrating Diwali with the jawans on Sunday, Mr Gandhi said he possessed the necessary information to expose Mr Modi about the help he was securing from foreign powers to win the elections and stay in power as the Prime Minister.
The senior Congress leader claimed the CRPF personnel “didn’t buy the Prime Minister’s lies” and said PM Modi should debate with him on who is actually anti-national and who has received funds from foreign forces.
“Dear @crpfindia, Your faces said it all: you didn’t buy the PM’s lies,” Rahul said on X. “He called us Naxals. My challenge stands. Let him debate me on who is anti-national and who is controlled by foreign forces. Any time, any place.” “My guarantee: after the debate, the PM won’t have the guts to stand in front of a single jawan again,” he said.
Rahul’s renewed challenge to PM Modi comes a day after the latter praised the CRPF personnel for neutralising the Naxalites in the Bastar region, but warned against the ‘dimagi Naxals’, a term he coined during his Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort this year to target the opposition parties, particularly the Congress. According to the Prime Minister, ‘dimagi Naxals’ are those who still support violence to promote their ideology.
“While armed Naxalites have been wiped out from the forests, ‘Dimagi Naxals’ have taken control of several organisations. Even today, they are inciting people against the country’s Constitution and democracy. These ‘Dimagi Naxals’ have also infiltrated several political parties and different organisations. We must identify them, defeat them and ensure the security of the nation,” PM Modi said on Sunday.
Since then, the opposition has accused that the Modi government was using such terms to delegitimise democratic dissent. The Congress has also dared PM Modi to accept Rahul’s challenge, but the BJP replied and alleged that the former Congress president keeps running away from debates in the Parliament. BJP leaders and ministers, including Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have said Rahul must show “some seriousness and responsibility” as LoP and debate in Parliament.
The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had taken a swipe at Mr Gandhi last week after he threw the challenge to Mr Modi accusing the Congress leader of backing agendas of the enemies of India.
“It’s same as islamic fundamentalists talking about secularism, separatists holding Indian flags & anarchists showing Constitution book,” Rijiju had posted on X last week. “Pushing agendas of India’s enemies yet accusing others of foreign support is self-ridiculing. Top level debates are done between matured people,” Mr Rijiju had said, apparently inferring that the Congress leader was not a “matured person.”
The post was in response to Mr Gandhi’s challenge to the PM the previous day alleging that Mr Modi became India’s prime minister with foreign assistance. The former Congress president said PM Modi’s entire financial system was “fully controlled and supported” by foreigners, asking him to stop lying to the nation.
“You became PM because of foreign help. You remain PM because of foreign help,” Gandhi said on X. “I challenge you to an open debate about this. Any stage, any time. Come if you have the guts. You won’t dare, because you are terrified of what I know about you.” The challenge had come in response to Mr Modi’s earlier remark during which he had alleged that attempts were being made by obstructionist forces to divide the country.
He had accused the opposition of violating constitutional norms.
“When the country was seeking solutions to external challenges, some forces within the country were also creating instability by spreading lies and rumours. But the countrymen stood shoulder to shoulder with the nation,” he had said. “It is our misfortune that at this time in the country, the opposition has turned into an Avrodh Paksh rather than Virodh Paksh. In their frustration, these people are standing as obstacles in the way of the country’s development. This is not opposition; this is obstruction,” he had added.