Rahul calls Modi 'darpok', dares him to 5 min debate on Rafale and national security

Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday described him as a "darpok" (coward) and dared him to a five minute face-to-face debate on issues such as Rafale and national security.

Addressing his party's minority department convention here, Gandhi also alleged that the RSS was trying to capture the institutions of the country and asserted that his party's governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh will remove the organisation's loyalists from the system.

In his speech covering a range of topics, an aggressive Gandhi slammed Modi for his China policy, saying the prime minister flew to the country and held a summit without an agenda while Beijing sent its army to Doklam.

Modi folded his hands before China, the Congress chief said, adding that China realised within two months that "leave alone 56 inches, he doesn't even have a four-inch chest".

"I know his (Modi) character after fighting him for five years...I say to BJP leaders... make Narendra Modi stand with me on stage for five minutes and debate on national security, Rafale," Gandhi said in his speech in Hindi.

"I want to say he is a darpok (coward) person. I have recognised him. He gets scared when he faces someone who says I will not back off, he backs off," the Congress chief said, walking away dramatically from the mike for visual effect, eliciting applause from Congress workers.

In a speech laced with sarcasm, Gandhi did not spare Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, mocking him for allegedly taking instructions from the British.

Gandhi urged his party's workers to face the RSS, the BJP and Modi with all their might. If Congress workers stand together, they (RSS, BJP, Modi) will run away as "they are cowards", he added.

The Congress chief said fear was writ large on Modi's face and asserted that those who spread hatred will be defeated.

Declaring that the "image of Narendra Modi is finished", Gandhi said, "He now knows you can't rule India by dividing people."