Rahul, BJP eyeball to eyeball

FACE-OFF | Modi and Shah protest as Gandhi tries to show BJP the mirror and argues that "those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence"

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

The Lok Sabha witnessed stormy scenes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah objected to Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacking the BJP in his first speech as Leader of Opposition by asserting that "those who call themselves Hindus only talk about violence, hatred and lies " "You are not Hindus," Rahul added with a degree of finality.

Speaking during the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, Gandhi began his speech by proclaiming "Jai Samvidhan," even as BJP MPs shouted "Jai Shri Ram". He then spoke about the "full-scale and systematic assault on the idea of India and the Constitution".

Gandhi, who earlier in the day also participated in a protest against misuse of central agencies by the government for targeting Opposition Opposition leaders, also raised the issue of opposition leaders being "personally attacked" and claimed that "some are still in jai".