New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate, alleging that Modi reached the top job and stays there with foreign backing.
"Mr Modi, stop lying to this nation. You became PM because of foreign help. You remain PM because of foreign help," Gandhi wrote on X. He added that India's financial system was "fully controlled and supported by foreigners" and that foreign social media "fully backs" the Prime Minister.
The post came two days after Modi's Rashtriya Ekta Diwas address at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on Saturday, where he said the Opposition had stopped being a virodh paksh and become an avrodh paksh. "This is not opposition, this is obstruction," Modi said, accusing rival parties of blocking development out of frustration.
Modi also alleged that certain forces were working to divide the country and using social media to spread rumours. Without naming anyone, he asked who was "secretly meeting whom abroad", which anti-India forces were backing them and who was "speaking the language of India's enemies".
Gandhi's counter was blunt. "I challenge you to an open debate about this. Any stage, any time. Come if you have the guts," he wrote. "You won't dare, because you are terrified of what I know about you."
The sparring widened through the day. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking at the BJP's 'Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy' padayatra in Hyderabad, dared Gandhi to a debate in Parliament on EVMs, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and allegations of vote theft, saying the government was ready to convene a special session.
BJP national spokesperson C.R. Kesavan hit back at Gandhi, calling the allegations baseless and questioning the transparency of his foreign trips, asking whom he meets abroad and on what agenda.
The backdrop is a running confrontation over the SIR exercise. On November 1, leaders of 21 Opposition parties under the INDIA bloc held a 'Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao' rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and alleging mass deletion of voters from the rolls. The Election Commission and the government have rejected the allegations.
Both sides now say they are willing to fight it out in the open. Neither has named a date.