NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his phone tapped, holding up his mobile phone during video clips released by the Congress and saying the proof of his claims was on the device. Gandhi also renewed his challenge to Modi for a one-on-one public debate. The tapping claim is Gandhi's allegation: he presented no verifiable technical evidence for it during the session, and the BJP has dismissed it as baseless.

Source: Mirror Now

"The proof is here. It's in this phone. The Prime Minister knows it because he taps my phone. The moment it comes for the debate, one-on-one debate, everybody will know who's controlled by foreign powers, who's an anti-national, since when he's been an anti-national, and lots of other details that I know and are on my phone," Gandhi said during an interactive 'Ask Me' session on Instagram, in remarks reported by multiple outlets.

Source: Fact.net.in

Gandhi said he did not want a conventional debate of long speeches in Parliament, alleging he had repeatedly been prevented from raising issues in the Lok Sabha. "You did not let me talk on the farm bills, vote chori, SIR, China, on (Gen) Naravane's book, Epstein. I want a one-on-one debate," he said, adding: "I want Narendra Modi to make allegations against me and I want to make allegations against him." He claimed the Prime Minister's political career would be over if Modi debated him face to face.

Friday's remarks were the seventh time in 12 days that Gandhi has publicly challenged Modi to a debate; on November 6 he had said he was willing to debate the Prime Minister on any platform, at any time and at any place. In a separate interaction, Gandhi suggested that industrialist Gautam Adani or RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat could act as judges for the proposed debate, according to reports.

BJP hits back: 'shoot and scoot', go to Parliament

The BJP rejected the allegation within hours. BJP leader Nalin Kohli, in a video message reported by news agency ANI, accused Gandhi of adopting a "shoot and scoot" strategy to remain relevant in the media: "Make a false, blatant, and rather outrageous allegation, something like my phone is being tapped, provide no evidence, and then sit back and say I need to have a debate with the honourable Prime Minister." Kohli challenged Gandhi to attend Parliament, follow its rules and debate there: "You are the Leader of Opposition."

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar also dismissed the surveillance claim as unfounded, questioning why anyone would monitor the Congress leader's communications, Mirror Now reported. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has previously told Gandhi to bring his arguments to the floor of Parliament, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has similarly questioned the demand for a separate public debate when Parliament is available.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid backed Gandhi at the party-hosted Bharat Summit in Hyderabad, telling ANI: "We can only express our deep regret that somebody is doing this to the phone of the Leader of Opposition, who is part of the democratic structure of our country." Khurshid said Gandhi speaks with "great thoughtfulness and knowledge" when raising such concerns.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

An allegation, in a longer surveillance row

The exchange comes amid an escalating confrontation between the BJP and the Opposition over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and Congress allegations of vote theft. Gandhi has raised surveillance claims before: in 2023 he said Pegasus spyware was present on his phone and that intelligence officials had warned him his conversations were being recorded — claims the Centre rejected at the time. A Supreme Court-appointed technical committee in the earlier Pegasus examination found malware on five of 29 phones examined but did not conclude the software was Pegasus. As of Friday evening there was no indication the Prime Minister had accepted the debate challenge.