New Delhi (TIP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, Nov 13, repeated his debate dare to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that Modi will not remain in office after a one-on-one exchange with him.
Responding to a question during an ‘Ask Me’ session on Instagram about why he was insisting on a public debate when the BJP has said that the exchange can take place in Parliament, Gandhi said he was not allowed to speak in the House, and his microphone was even switched off.
“You did not let me talk on the farm bills, vote chori, SIR, China, on (Gen) Naravane’s book, Epstein. I want a one-on-one debate. I don’t want a debate entailing long speeches,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
“I want that Narendra Modi makes allegations against me and I do the same to him. He can come; there will be a table, on one side there will be Narendra Modi ji and on the other side, it would be me,” Gandhi said.
He added that he had no objection if Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani or RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was appointed as the judge for the debate.
“But I guarantee that the prime minister will not remain the PM after a one-on-one debate with me,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi has repeatedly challenged Modi to an open debate and earlier claimed that it would take him just five minutes to establish that the prime minister was a “traitor”.
The BJP leaders have scoffed at Gandhi’s challenge, alleging that he has been running away from debates in Parliament.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that while Gandhi is asking the prime minister to choose the venue for a debate, there already exists one in Parliament and called on him to show “some seriousness and responsibility” as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
BJP questions Rahul Gandhi’s US visit
The BJP on Nov 11 took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over his visit to the US next week, asking the Congress leader to disclose whether he was travelling abroad to interact with students or “anti-India forces”. This came after Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda said Gandhi would hold fireside chats at Columbia and Chicago universities on global student movements and geopolitics, respectively, during his visit to the US.
Asked about Gandhi’s visit, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “Look, this is no longer a new thing. He should go and tell if he is interacting with the students or interacting with anti-India forces.” The BJP Rajya Sabha MP said Gandhi had never spent even 15 days in any poll-bound state campaigning for his party. The BJP has often accused Gandhi of travelling abroad to meet anti-India forces and defaming the country during his public interactions there. The party has also alleged that instead of campaigning on the ground during elections, Gandhi chooses to travel abroad and makes “baseless” allegations of “vote chori” when his party loses elections.
“Excluding the Covid period, there has never been a stretch of even 25 consecutive weeks during which he (Rahul Gandhi)did not travel abroad,” Trivedi said while responding to reporters’ queries at the BJP headquarters.
“I have a question for the person who has been raising the ‘vote chori’ slogan. Our national president Nitin Nabin recently visited Uttar Pradesh. Amit Shah spent several days in Punjab. But Rahul Gandhi, after a trip to Vietnam, is now heading to America,” Trivedi added.
In an interview with PTI from Chicago, Pitroda said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was visiting the US primarily for two engagements that had been planned some time ago. “One is a fireside chat at Columbia University (on 17th) mainly on the global rise of the student movement, what it means, how it is seen in India, the impact on democracy, their demands on education, employment, economy and environment,” Pitroda said. “And the second one on the 18th November is at University of Chicago with a very distinguished professor, Dr (Robert) Pape, who is very well known in the geopolitics area. He has a very unique view on the Middle East, the Iran war and all that. So the second conversation would be more on geopolitics and global affairs,” the Indian Overseas Congress chief said.
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