Rahul Gandhi says Modi a coward, can’t stand debate

New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) In a no-holds-barred attack on Prime Minister Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday dared him for a debate on Rafale fighter jet deal and other issues, saying the Prime Minister was so "scared" that he would not hold on to it even for five minutes.

He called Modi a "coward" and recalled the 2017 Doklam stand-off, saying Modi stood with "folded hands" before China. "The Prime Minister's chest is not 56 inches but merely 4 inches and cowardice is in BJP-RSS' DNA," he said.

The Congress President said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has been remote-controlling the Modi government and promised to weed out every RSS man from the country's institutions which the right-combine has planted in the last 5 years.

"I have been fighting Modi for 5 years and now know him very well," Gandhi said while addressing the national convention of the Congress minority department at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

"I am asking BJP leaders, bring Modi on stage just for five minutes for debate on Rafale, on national security. But I know, he is a coward, he is scared and will run away," said Gandhi as he turned back and enacted how Modi would run, triggering laughter among the audience.

Talking about the Doklam standoff, Gandhi said a "scared" Modi ran to Beijing and held talks without an agenda.

The 48-year-old Gandhi also ridiculed Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar over his mercy petitions to the British.

"I am telling you, be it the RSS or BJP, Modi or Savarkar they are all cowards.

"The moment we stand together, they will run away. The Congress is now making the BJP-RSS to run away. We will make them run away on Rafale, on agrarian crisis, on employment," he said.

"If you look at Modi, you can clearly see the nervousness, the fear. He is so scared that now he is not able to give speeches the way he used to. He is not able to speak on farmers, the youth or unemployment, he is so scared," said Gandhi.