Sangrur: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reiterated his challenge to Narendra Modi for an open debate on the latter’s charge that Congress is “anti-national”, claiming that he could prove within five minutes that it is the prime minister who fits the tag.
“Come anywhere, sit with me and debate. I will prove within five minutes that Modi is an anti-national,” Gandhi said.
Addressing an ‘Insaaf Rally’ of the Congress to launch the party’s poll campaign for the Punjab elections due early next year, Gandhi also mocked the BJP over its proposal to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss SIR, saying, “They say have a discussion in Parliament, but you switch off my mic; you don’t let me speak…”
On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government is willing to hold a special session of Parliament to hold discussions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, daring the opposition to join the debate.
Accusing Modi of working for billionaires, the Congress leader said, “He works for Adani. He hands over the entire country’s land, infrastructure, and airports to them. He will not work for the farmers. He will not work for small and medium businesses; the Congress will.”
“Narendra Modi says the Congress is anti-national. So, I issued a direct challenge to him yesterday. I said, look Modi ji, come anywhere, sit with me and debate. You sit on one side of the table, and I will sit on the other, and debate.
“You can pick the judge you want, even Mohan Bhagwat. If you want to make Adani the judge, make him sit in front of you. It won’t matter. If you want to hold the debate in NDTV’s studio, hold it there. You just come and sit in front of me, and then let’s talk about who’s anti-national.
“But I can tell the country – Modi cannot come and sit in front of me. His leaders are saying, ‘let’s discuss in Parliament’, but you switch off my mic there. You just don’t let me speak in Parliament.”
“If you make him sit in front of me, I am guaranteeing you, I will prove that Narendra Modi is anti-national in five minutes. I will prove that Donald Trump controls Narendra Modi,” he claimed.
Sharpening his attack, Gandhi also claimed that Modi signed the US trade deal within just five minutes.
“He neither told the Cabinet nor any bureaucrat (about the deal). Trump threatened him, and he signed the US deal. He handed over India’s farmers, small and medium industries, and data to Trump.
“Trump keeps saying he stopped the India-Pakistan war (last year), but Modi cannot even utter a word to counter the claim,” Gandhi alleged.
“There was a case against Adani in the US. You can Google it. But after the US deal happened, Trump got the case closed. What greater proof can be there?” the Congress leader said.
