New Delhi: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of tapping his phone, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday (November 13, 2026) dared Mr. Modi to debate him on who was an anti-national.
The Prime Minister’s “political career will be over” if he accepted the invitation, as he (Mr. Gandhi) had “evidence” against Mr. Modi on his phone, the Congress leader claimed.
The Challenge
“The Prime Minister’s political career will be over if he comes and debates with me. He knows that and I know that. He keeps calling me anti-national. I want to show the nation exactly who is anti-national, exactly who is controlled by whom and since when, and he knows the truth of that,” Mr. Gandhi said in a video on Instagram and X.
Why Not in Parliament?
Replying to a question during an ‘Ask Me’ session on Instagram on why he was insisting on a public debate when the BJP said the exchange could take place in Parliament, Mr. Gandhi said he was not allowed to speak in the House and even his microphone was switched off.
“You did not let me talk on the Farm Bills, vote chori, SIR, China, on [General] Naravane’s book, [Jeffrey] Epstein. I want a one-on-one debate. I don’t want a debate entailing long speeches,” he said.
“I want that Narendra Modi makes allegations against me and I do the same to him. He can come. There will be a table. On one side, there will be Narendra Modi ji, and on the other side, it will be me.”
He suggested business tycoon Gautam Adani or RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat could be the judge. “But I guarantee that the Prime Minister will not remain the PM after a one-on-one debate with me,” he claimed.
The Phone-Tapping Claim
“The proof is here,” Mr. Gandhi said in response to another question on what evidence he had. “The Prime Minister knows it because he taps my phone. The moment he comes for the debate, one-on-one debate, everybody will know who is controlled by foreign powers, who is an anti-national, and since when he has been an anti-national, and lots of other details are on my phone.”
He added: “Notice something: there is a little fear in his mind because he is no longer commenting about me; he is no longer attacking me; he is being very, very careful.”
The Teleprompter Jibe
Mr. Gandhi also took a swipe at the Prime Minister over his Deepavali milan programme at the BJP headquarters with media representatives.
“Modi ji, even at your own godi media’s Diwali gathering, you used a teleprompter? The people are yours, the stage is yours, the whole environment is yours, yet you still need a script. Looks like the pressure got to you. Anyway, no worries. Bring a teleprompter to a debate with me too, and seat a judge of your choice as well. Just show up, that’s all. The country wants to know — who is the real traitor?”
On Sonia Gandhi’s Memoir
Asked why the BJP was talking so much about Belonging: A Journey of Love, the memoir by his mother and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Gandhi said it was a “great book” and they were all reading it.
“They can’t resist reading it and then they have got to comment on it. A lot of them actually secretly like her and they think she is fantastic, but unfortunately they can’t say it. The other thing is — all you bhakts, please keep commenting on the book because the more you comment, the better it does,” he said.
