Rahul says PM called opposition ‘Naxals’, dares him to debate:Says PM could not face a soldier after it; 6th challenge in 8 days

Rahul Gandhi has once again challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate. This time, he posted the challenge by directly tagging CRPF personnel. This is the sixth time in the past eight days that Rahul Gandhi has challenged PM Modi to a debate. Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: Dear CRPF personnel, your faces said it all – you do not believe the Prime Minister’s lies. He called us Naxalites. My challenge stands. Let him debate me – who is anti-national and who is acting at the behest of foreign powers. Any time, any place. I guarantee that after that debate, the Prime Minister will not have the courage to stand before even a single soldier. Modi: ‘Armed Naxals’ gone from forests, but threat now from ‘Dimagi Naxals’ After celebrating Diwali with security forces in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the personnel. “This is the first Diwali when every district in the country is free from Naxalism,” he said. He added that the threat had not been entirely removed. Armed Naxalites, he said, had been eliminated from the forests, but the danger now came from “Dimagi Naxals”. He claimed such people had infiltrated many political organisations and must be identified and rooted out, accusing them of turning people against the Constitution and democracy. Why has Modi never agreed to a debate with Rahul Gandhi? The BJP’s argument. Rahul Gandhi is not even a prime ministerial candidate, so there is no reason for Narendra Modi to debate him. If Gandhi wants a debate, the BJP says, he should have it in Parliament. Congress’s argument. Modi rarely comes to Parliament and has never held a single open press conference, Congress says, so he is afraid of a debate outside it. The history. No Indian prime minister has so far held a US-style open debate with an opposition leader. In 2014, the BJP’s L K Advani himself backed the idea of such a debate, but Modi never did. BJP’s Nishikant Dubey answers Rahul Gandhi by posting Chidambaram’s 2011 remarks on Naxalism Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s post, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey shared an old news report quoting Congress leader P Chidambaram, who was Union Home Minister at the time, describing Left-wing extremism as the “most violent movement” in India.