Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate over allegations that the Opposition has connections with foreign forces, daring him to choose any stage or venue and face him before the media and the country's youth.
“It's been 24 hours since I challenged you, Modi ji. You say the Opposition is anti-national. Choose any stage, any venue, and debate me on this,” Gandhi said in a social media post on Tuesday.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha challenged Modi to discuss who was anti-national, who had connections with foreign forces and the nature of those connections.
“Let's do this as soon as possible. Daro mat!” Gandhi said.
Gandhi also proposed the format for the debate, saying both leaders could sit across a table in the presence of the media and the youth of the country. He even offered Modi the freedom to appoint anyone as the judge, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
“You can appoint whoever you want as the judge. You can even make Mohan Bhagwat ji the judge,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader said the debate could cover several issues, including the country's financial system and structure, the US deal, the circumstances under which it was finalised and why the Cabinet was not informed.
Gandhi also wanted discussions on why the Adani case was closed, the Epstein issue and several other matters.
“We'll discuss all of them openly. Let the truth come out. Let everything be crystal clear,” he said.
Challenging Modi over allegations against him, Gandhi said the prime minister should come forward and allow everything to be cleared up.
He also referred to the defamation cases filed against him over other matters, claiming that there were around 45 such cases.
However, Gandhi questioned why no defamation case had been filed against him over the issue of foreign connections. “Go ahead, file one. We'll discuss that openly too,” Gandhi dared Modi, concluding his post with “Happy Diwali, Modi ji.”
Gandhi's remarks came within a day of his earlier challenge for an open debate with Modi over accusations that the Opposition was taking foreign help to destabilise the country. He had also accused Modi of occupying the prime minister's chair with “foreign help”.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the government was willing to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and dared the Opposition to join the debate.
