Rahul dares Modi to debate him Nirmala hits back Kharge says it's time for PM to face questions

    New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again to debate him openly and said he guaranteed that it would be proved in five minutes that the PM was a traitor, inviting a sharp response from Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

    "Let's debate right there on Adani ji's NDTV, Mr Modi. The platform is yours, the judge is yours too — be it Adani ji or Mohan Bhagwat ji. I guarantee it — I'll prove in just 5 minutes that Narendra Modi is a 'deshdrohi' (traitor)," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.

    After Gandhi's challenge, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the prime minister should come forward and face the questions on vote theft that the nation was posing.

    Hitting back, Sitharaman said while Gandhi is asking the PM to choose the venue for a debate, there already exists one in Parliament and reminded him that he happens to be the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and needs to show some seriousness and responsibility.

    "Rahul ji, you ask the Prime Minister to choose a venue for a debate. There is already one: Parliament, where you happen to be the LoP.

    "Just yesterday, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah offered a special session to debate SIR and EVMs. Why not show the same enthusiasm for a debate in Parliament that you show while issuing challenges on social media?" Sitharaman said on X.

    "Demanding answers also carries an obligation to hear them," she said, adding that there have been several occasions when Gandhi and his party colleagues walked out of Parliament while the government was responding to their allegations.

    "How do you claim to be so eager for a debate when you don’t even stay to hear the other side? It doesn’t stop at walkouts. You and the INDI Alliance have repeatedly disrupted proceedings, leading to entire sittings being washed out. If you are so keen on debating, why not allow Parliament to function in the first place?" she said.

    Sitharaman also alleged that Gandhi raised issues frivolously and asked him to bring specific allegations and evidence to back them up.     

     "Simply throwing together a long list of accusations doesn’t make your case any stronger. As LoP, you are expected to show some seriousness and responsibility.

    "You say, 'Daro mat'. Then bring the facts, face the scrutiny and stay to hear the answers. In the House, uphold the standards of debate you demand from others," she said.

    In a post on X, Kharge said Modi has no answers on the “vote chori” issue and thus should accept Gandhi's open challenge for a debate on various subjects, including “foreign connections”.

    "You don't come to Parliament. You have not done a SINGLE OPEN PRESS CONFERENCE; it's time you came for a DEBATE.

    “Come forward, Face Questions. Tell the Nation why did you indulge in VOTE CHORI !!” Kharge said in his post.

    “PM Modi is parroting his flop line of ‘Dimaagi Naxal’! He has NO answer on Vote Chori and the Open Challenge by Rahul Gandhi to discuss how he mortgaged Indian interests to Foreign powers!” Kharge said.

    “(Amit) Shah is telling us 3 Crore Voters are 'ghuspaithiyas'. What was he doing as Home Minister for years, letting ‘illegal’ people enter India? He should be sacked for his incompetence,” the Congress chief added.

    Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju hit back in a post on X, saying, "Kharge Ji, Dimaagi Naxal is a term not a narrative. Only following are Dimaagi Naxals: Who support Maoists agenda, and reject Indian Constitution. Who stand with the separatists & support Article 370. Who want to stop the development projects of India. Who conspire to cut chicken neck to separate North-East from India."

    Kharge earlier said the Election Commission had taken five U-turns on the SIR exercise, including a complete change of Form 6, which was termed “illegal by fellow election commissioners”, and asked why that was done.

    “The last session of Parliament has not been prorogued for 83 days and counting. And now, when the next session is on the anvil, they want a special session.

    “The Public Impeachment of CEC Gyanesh Kumar, the massive ‘Vote Bachao’ Ramlila Maidan rally has rattled Modiji-Shah!!” the Congress chief claimed in the post.

    On Tuesday, Gandhi challenged Modi to an open debate on his charge that the “Opposition is anti-national” and asked why the prime minister has not filed a defamation case against him over his “foreign connections” allegation.

    He accused Modi of occupying the PM’s chair with “foreign help”, within a day of his earlier challenge for an open debate with the prime minister for accusing the Opposition of taking foreign help to destabilise the country.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)