Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an open debate, urging him to agree to the face-off "as
soon as possible". Gandhi on Monday challenged PM Modi to an open debate over the issue of "foreign help". "Let’s do this as soon as possible. Daro mat! We'll both be there. The media will be there. The youth of this country will be there. There will be a table. You’ll sit on one side, I’ll sit on the other. You can appoint whoever you want as the judge. You can even make Mohan Bhagwat ji the judge," Rahul Gandhi posted on X (formerly Twitter). "There will be questions about the financial system, the financial structure, how the US deal happened, why it happened and why so quickly, why you made the deal alone and didn’t inform the Cabinet, why the Adani case was closed, Epstein - and many other issues. We’ll discuss all of them openly. Let the truth come out. Let everything be crystal clear," he wrote. "You make allegations against me, don’t you? Come forward. Everything will become clear. You’ve filed defamation cases against me over other matters. I think there are around 45 defamation cases against me. But on this issue of the debate, on the question of foreign connections, you haven’t filed a defamation case. Go ahead, file one. We’ll discuss that openly too. Happy Diwali, Modi ji," he added.
Gandhi on Monday challenged PM Modi to an open debate. Gandhi alleged that the prime minister's rise to power and continuation have been backed by foreign forces. In a strongly worded post on X, Rahul Gandhi accused PM Modi of "lying to the nation" and claimed that the financial system was "fully controlled and supported by foreigners". He also alleged that foreign social media platforms were fully backing the Prime Minister.
"Mr Modi, stop lying to this nation. You became PM because of foreign help. You remain PM because of foreign help," Rahul Gandhi wrote. "Your financial system is fully controlled and supported by foreigners. Foreign social media fully backs you," he added.
"I challenge you to an open debate about this. Any stage, any time. Come if you have the guts," he said. "You won't dare, because you are terrified of what I know about you," he added.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday mocked Gandhi, saying it is the same as "Islamic fundamentalists talking about secularism". "Top level debates are done between matured people (sic)," he said on X.
"It's same as Islamic fundamentalists talking about secularism, separatists holding Indian flags and anarchists showing Constitution book... Pushing agendas of India's enemies yet accusing others of foreign support is self-ridiculing," the senior BJP leader said.
