NEW DELHI: Turning his Diwali greeting into another political jab, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday renewed his challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to face him in an open debate, saying 24 hours had passed since he dared the PM.In a video shared on X, Rahul began by telling the Prime Minister, “Happy Diwali, Modi ji,” before urging him to choose any venue for a public discussion.“24 hours have passed, Modi ji. I challenged you. You say that the opposition is anti-national. Pick any stage, any venue, and debate me,” Rahul said.“Who is the anti-national? Who has connections with foreign forces? And what kind of connections are they? Do it as soon as possible, don’t be afraid,” he added.The Congress leaders remarks came 24 hours after he challenged the Prime Minister to an open debate on the allegations, claiming that he would not dare to accept it.Rahul proposed that the debate be held in the presence of the media and the country’s youth, with both leaders seated across a table. He also said PM Modi could choose the person who would moderate or judge the discussion, suggesting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for the role.“We’ll both be there, the media will be there, the youth of the country will be there, there’ll be a table, you’ll sit on one side, I’ll sit on the other. Whoever you want to appoint as judge, go ahead. Put Mohan Bhagwat ji in the chair, come on. And then we’ll debate,” he said.Listing the issues he wanted to discuss, Rahul referred to the financial system, the US deal, the Adani case and Jeffrey Epstein.“Questions will come up about the financial system, the financial structure, how the US deal happened, why it happened, why so quickly, why you did it alone, why you didn’t tell the Cabinet, why the Adani case was closed, Epstein—there are so many things like that on which we’ll have an open discussion,” he said.“Come on, don’t be afraid. (Doodh ka doodh pani ka pani kijiye) Separate the milk from the water,” he added.Rahul also referred to the defamation cases filed against him over other issues and challenged the Prime Minister to take legal action over his allegations of foreign connections.“You make allegations against me, don’t you? Come on, everything will be cleared up. On other matters, you’ve slapped me with defamation cases—maybe 45 defamation cases against me,” he said.“But on this debate issue, on foreign connections, you’re not filing defamation. Go ahead, file one—we’ll discuss that openly too. Let’s discuss all of this, come on. Happy Diwali, Modi ji,” he added.He ended by repeating his call for an early debate, saying, “Let’s do this as soon as possible. Daro mat!”Earlier on Tuesday, Union minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Rahul after the Congress leader accused PM Modi of becoming Prime Minister with “foreign help”.Taking a swipe at Rahul, Rijiju compared his remarks to Islamic fundamentalists speaking about secularism, separatists carrying Indian flags and anarchists displaying the Constitution.In a post on X, the minister said, “It’s the same as islamic fundamentalists talking about secularism, separatists holding Indian flags & anarchists showing Constitution book. Pushing agendas of India’s enemies yet accusing others of foreign support is self-ridiculing.”
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“Top level debates are done between matured people,” he added.Rijiju’s remarks came a day after Rahul accused PM Modi of becoming Prime Minister with foreign support and continuing in office with such backing. Rahul also challenged the Prime Minister to an open debate.