Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has written a seven-point rejoinder to Rahul Gandhi over the Congress MP’s repeated demands for an open debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, advising him to “avoid secret foreign vacations frequently” and stop meeting “anti-India people” if his party hopes to improve its electoral tally.
In posts on X, Rijiju laid out a mocking checklist of conditions that he claimed would help the Opposition party “win more MPs” in parliament. The BJP leader also called upon Gandhi to overhaul his approach to domestic politics and parliamentary conduct; he urged the Congress leader to “end deep hatred against BJP, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and Modi Ji”, and to “treat BJP as political opponent, not enemy”. Among the other conditions, the Union minister told Gandhi to “take parliament more seriously and let MPs take part in debates and discussion. On Tuesday too, Gandhi had challenged PM Modi to debate his allegation that the Opposition is “anti-national”, questioning why no defamation case had been filed against him after he accused the prime minister of occupying office with foreign assistance.
Earlier in the day, Rijiju shared an old video clip from inside parliament capturing a moment when Opposition MPs walked out during his address.
