Rahul Gandhi insulted India in London, should apologize: Rajnath Singh

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is the latest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to attack Congress' Rahul Gandhi for his recent comments on India during his United Kingdom (UK) tour, in which he slammed the Indian government on a number of issues. Singh, in his address to the Lok Sabha, on Monday said that the Congress leader should "apologize before the House."

• In his speech at Cambridge University a week ago, Gandhi alleged that the democracy in India was under attack and that numerous politicians, including himself, were being spied on.
• With the general poll just months away, Congress is on the offensive against the BJP over matters such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on Narendra Modi and the Adani Group-Hindenburg controversy.

Speaking at the lower house of Parliament, the defense minister stated, "Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of this House, insulted India in London." While demanding an apology from him, the BJP leader added, "I demand that his statements should be condemned by all members of this House, and he should be asked to apologize before the House."

Later, the BJP leader also took to Twitter and wrote in Hindi, "Mr. Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of the Lok Sabha, has gone to London and tried to defame India and said that the democratic system in India is completely collapsing." "He has also said that foreign forces should save India's democracy," he added.

Backing Singh's argument, Union minister Piyush Goyal stated that it was "shameful" that a senior leader insulted the democracy of India on foreign soil. Several other BJP ministers also joined their voices in support of the statement, resulting in chaos and adjournment of the House.

Meanwhile, Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress president, responded to BJP by stating, "Those crushing and destroying democracy are talking of saving it." The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also backed the Congress and took part in the joint opposition conference. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) stayed away.

The entire squabble started when Gandhi attacked the Modi-led central government during his lecture at Cambridge University on February 28. During his lecture on Learning to Listen in the 21st Century, the former Congress president alleged that India is "facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy" and that Israeli spyware Pegasus was being used to spy on numerous opposition leaders.

"Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy," he had said at the lecture. "Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilization - these are all getting constrained. We are facing an attack on the basic structure of democracy," the Congress leader added.