Show 56-in chest: Rahul dares PM Modi to prosecute him
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, accusing him of throwing muck at him and his family through his cronies and dared the BJP-led government to put him in jail if found guilty of any wrongdoing.
Though the combative opposition leader did not name anyone or any specific allegation, the reference was widely seen as a rebuttal of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s accusation a few days ago that Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen in documents submitted to authorities in London.
“I want to say one thing, Modiji, you have got agencies. Set them after me. Show your 56-inch chest. Get investigations done. If you find anything in six months, put me in jail,” he said at a Youth Congress national convention.
The Amethi MP’s remarks came after his party rubbished the charges and released the documents submitted to British authorities in which Gandhi identified himself as a citizen of India.
“Stop all this – the muck that you are throwing at me, at my family through your cronies. You are not in opposition, you are in government now,” Gandhi said, as he continued to criticise Modi at the event to mark the 98th birth anniversary of his grandmother and former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. “Send me to jail if I have done any wrong.”
His statements came on the heels of Swamy writing to the Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker, demanding that Gandhi be stripped of his Indian citizenship and Lok Sabha membership as well. In a bid to revitalise party workers, Gandhi said the Congress with just 44 MPs in the lower House had succeeded in stalling the NDA government’s land acquisition bill. “The BJP felt that there would be a sweep in Bihar and it would win,” he added. “The Prime Minister went there, BJP chief Amit Shah went there. The sweep happened, but not for them. It was our sweep. I am telling you even in the coming elections in states, we are going to sweep.” The Congress leader’s comments drew a sharp reaction from the ruling party, which too a jibe at his controversial brotherin-law, Robert Vadra.
“Rahul Gandhi doesn’t need to challenge us on initiating inquiries, they are on,” said BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, as he listed several cases of corruption during the previous UPA government. “Robert Vadra has many investigations on against him.”