Rahul Gandhi says Modi holds office with 'foreign help'; Rijiju calls charge self-ridiculing

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of coming to power and staying in office with "foreign help", and challenged him to an open debate on the charge, escalating a row that began with Modi's speech in Gujarat on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas. Union minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed the accusation on Tuesday and rejected the call for a debate.

"Mr Modi, stop lying to this nation. You became PM because of foreign help. You remain PM because of foreign help," Gandhi wrote on X on Monday, according to WION. He alleged that Modi's "financial system is fully controlled and supported by foreigners", Outlook reported, and said the Prime Minister could choose "any stage, any time" for a debate.

How the row began

Gandhi's post was a reply to Modi's speech at the Statue of Unity in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, on 31 October, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Modi said certain forces were continuously conspiring to divide the country and that social media was being used to spread rumours, WION reported. He asked who was secretly meeting whom abroad and whom "anti-India forces" were supporting, remarks widely read as a reference to Gandhi's foreign trips. He also accused the opposition of acting as an "avrodh paksh", an obstructing side, rather than a "virodh paksh", an opposing one.

What the BJP said

Rijiju said on Tuesday that Gandhi was pushing the agenda of India's enemies and called the accusation self-ridiculing, Outlook reported. He likened Gandhi's remarks to "Islamic fundamentalists talking about secularism" and turned down the debate: "Top-level debates are done between matured people," he said.

BJP president Nitin Nabin, speaking at a rally in Kolkata, said foreign forces wanted instability in India and called Gandhi their "toolkit", WION reported. Other BJP spokespeople have repeated earlier allegations that Gandhi has met groups abroad hostile to the government, which the Congress has denied in the past.

The evidence

Neither Modi nor Gandhi has offered evidence for their claims, WION noted. The Prime Minister did not name anyone in his speech, and Gandhi did not say which foreign interests he was referring to. The Congress had not issued a further statement on Rijiju's remarks by Tuesday night.

Background

The exchange comes amid a bitter stand-off between the government and the opposition over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The INDIA bloc held a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on 1 November demanding the Chief Election Commissioner's removal, while the BJP has accused the opposition of trying to discredit elections it has lost. The Election Commission said on Tuesday that voters dropped from the rolls during the SIR could reapply without fear of prosecution.

The BJP has for several years accused Gandhi of seeking foreign intervention in India's affairs, which the Congress denies. Gandhi's new post turns that charge back on the Prime Minister.

What happens next

Parliament's winter session, where both sides are likely to raise the row, has not yet begun. Gandhi's debate challenge has no formal standing and the BJP has said it will not take it up.