The BJP criticised the public debate invitation to Modi and Rahul Gandhi and asked why the PM should debate with a non-PM candidate.
PM Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi
A day after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi formally accepted the invitation to a public debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections, several BJP leaders criticised his move and even released a statement against the people who invited the duo in the first place.
On Thursday, 9 May, former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur, former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and N Ram, former editor of The Hindu, wrote to Modi and Rahul Gandhi, inviting them to take part in a public debate.
Insisting that such a debate would set a great precedent, the letter said that “citizens will hugely benefit from hearing directly from our political readers through a public debate on a non-partisan and non-commercial platform”.
Accepting the invitation, Rahul Gandhi replied that either he or Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge would be pleased to participate and that such a debate would help put to rest any unsubstantiated allegations.
“As the principal parties fighting the election, the public deserved to hear from their leaders directly,” he added.
Reacting to the letter, BJP leader Tejasvi Surya asked who Rahul Gandhi was and why the prime minister should debate with him.
Attacking the Congress leader, he said, “Rahul Gandhi isn’t even the prime ministerial candidate of Congress, let alone the INDIA bloc.”
The BJP MP added: “Let him first get declared as Congress’s prime-ministerial candidate and state he will take accountability for his party’s defeat, and then invite the prime minister for a debate.”
On Sunday, BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya issued a statement calling the invitation a form of elitism.
Asking why such a public debate was suggested after three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, he alleged that Mallikarjun Kharge had been insulted because Rahul Gandhi was invited.
Elaborating, he asked: “Has his (Kharge’s) parliamentary performance been poor? Does he not have five decades of experience? Is he not the elected president of the Congress party?”
He continued: “It is Rahul Gandhi who is lacking in these parameters, but still the elite prefer him. Why? The answer is straight and simple: Because Kharge is a Dalit.”
Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed the prime minister had not yet “mustered the courage” to accept the invitation.
Criticising the kind of interviews Modi had been participating in, he said: “The outgoing PM’s ‘interviews’ — to newspapers and TV channels — are a complete farce, which the country is being subjected to these days. Every tiny detail is orchestrated and managed by him. There is not one thing natural or spontaneous about them except his lies and theatrics.”
(Edited by Neena)
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